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Journalism of Courage
HYDERABAD, APR 9: Mohammad Azharuddin today said he would consult the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and his lawyers before reacting to reported allegations of match-fixing made against him by former teammate Manoj Prabhakar.
Reacting to Prabhakar’s reported remarks yesterday, Azharuddin told PTI: “As far as I know the BCCI has filed a suit against Manoj for damages,” he said refering to the allegations first raised by the ex-all rounder in 1996 and the Board’s refusal to release his benevolent fund.
“At this stage, I will only say that a judicial inquiry by Justice Y V Chandrachud was conducted and his report is on record,” he said. The report had absolved Indian cricketers of any wrongdoing and dismissed Prabhakar’s allegations as baseless.
Azharuddin said: “Manoj is vindictive and has a personal grudge against me. Manoj was contesting elections and had approached me to campaign for him. I did not oblige him. After his defeat he bore a grudge against me and blames me for his defeat.”
Prabhakar had alleged in 1996 that he was offered a bribe by a teammate to play poorly during a 1994 one-day tournament in Colombo, but had refused to name the person. But he named Azharuddin and Ajit Wadekar by inference onSaturday, when he told a webchat that no match-fixing could take place without the knowledge of the captain and the manager. Azhar was the captain and Wadekar the manager during that 1994 series.
Prabhakar, meanwhile, told a TV channel on Sunday that he had not named anybody during Saturday’s webchat.
ENS adds from Mubai: Wadekar also refused to be drawn into the controversy, preferring to draw attention to the Chandrachud report: “There is no point in (discussing) issues which have already been dealt with. That that chapter is closed. The BCCI’s one-man inquiry comittee under former chief justice YV Chandrachud has already gone into it,” he said refusing further comment.
