Not a single player confessed his involvement — Dhindsa

Reminded of his earlier stand that the Government would take a lenient view if players who may be involved confessed to the crime, the Minister said he still stood by the same, but added, "It appears nobody will come forward to confess."

However, he asserted that Government was determined to go to the root of the controversy and bring to book the players and others guilty of bringing the game to disrepute.

"Come whatever may, we will go to the root of the scandal by conducting a thorough probe," Dhindsa said and complimented the CBI for doing an excellent job of the task entrusted to it.

When told that Law Minister Ram Jethmalani has said that nothing much would come out of the probe and that the players should be forgiven, he said, "This is his personal opinion."

"We have committed to Parliament as well as to the people that Government will do a thorough investigation. So, it is the duty of the Government to find the truth and bring guilty to the book," the Minister said.

Former Indian cricketer Nikhil Chopra today deposed before the CBI in connection with the case. Chopra, a right-arm spinner, arrived at the CBI headquarters this afternoon and was being questioned by the Special Crime Branch of the agency.

Chopra is believed to be close to former Indian captain Kapil Dev, whom former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar has charged with having offered him a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to under perform against Pakistan in a one-dayer at Sri Lanka.

The agency also plans to summon some more cricketers, including three former cricket captains before the CBI, after which it will chalk out further course of action.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has requested South African authorities to provide it with tapes of the statements made by sacked cricket captain Hansie Cronje relating to match-fixing scandal before the King Inquiry Commission, even as it awaited deportation of prime accused Sanjeev Chawla from London.