CHENNAI, NOV 11: The five Indian cricketers named in the CBI report on match-fixing have been summoned for questioning by former CBI director K Madhavan. "I will be talking to Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma, Nayan Mongia, Ajay Jadeja," he said here on Saturday. However, former captain Mohammed Azharuddin has declined to appear before the one-man inquiry panel.Madhavan was appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to probe the criminal aspects of allegations in the report that the cricketers accepted money from bookmakers to lose matches.Of the five Indian cricketers named, Azharuddin has told the Board he would not be present for questioning, Madhavan said adding that the remaining cricketers would be questioned over the next week.Azharuddin gave no reason for his refusal, but Board officials earlier said it was not binding on players to appear before the new inquiry.All-rounder Manoj Prabhakhar was the first to be questioned by Madhavan on Saturday. "The CBI report is absolute rubbish. Let us see how fair this inquiry is," Prabhakar told reporters.Prabhakar, who arrived here this morning to appear before Madhavan said "the battle is over, but the war to cleanse the game is on". Before presenting himself for the cross-examination, Prabhakar alleged that the report was full of ``inaccuracies''. He reiterated his charge that Indian cricket was plagued by match-fixing and betting while maintaining that he was not involved. "The battle is over, but the war to cleanse the game is on," he said.Asked to explain about the inaccuracies, he said it was obvious that they (CBI) had not seen the video cassettes handed over to them by him. "The report also does not reflect the evidences that I gave during my examination," he added. To a question whether he would put any new evidence before Madhavan, he said "it all depends on how fair the cross-examination is going to be".Madhavan said Ajay Sharma would be examined in New Delhi on November 14 as the cricketer had informed him that he was not in a position to travel due to health reasons. He had submitted a doctor's certificate to this effect.While Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and former physiotherapist of Indian cricket team Ali Irani would appear for the cross-examination Sunday, Ram Adhar, groundsman of the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium, had already been examined in Delhi a couple of days ago, Madhavan said.Asked why Chennai was chosen as the venue for questioning, the former CBI chief cited the disturbance at the press conference held by Jadeja at Delhi recently, and said the Board wanted to avoid such incidents. "Time permitting I may also talk to present and past board officials," Madhavan said.India's premier investigative agency has accused Azharuddin, Mongia, Jadeja, Prabhakar and Sharma of under-performing, betting and providing information on the pitch, weather and team strategy in Test matches and one-day international games to bookmakers. Nine foreign players were also named by a bookmaker whose interviews with the police formed the bulk of the report.Madhavan said he would also cross-examine Dr Ali Irani, the Indian team's former physiotherapist. The CBI report had accused Irani of acting as "a conduit for receiving payments on behalf of Azharuddin".The government ordered a CBI probe in April after the Delhi Police charged South African captain Hansie Cronje and three other players with match-fixing after secretly monitoring their phone conversations with bookmakers during an Indian tour earlier this year.
