Azharuddin plays hooky at match-fixing probe session
Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin was absent for a second day Sunday from an enquiry commission of the national cricket board to probe match fixing charges levelled against five stars.
Board authorities in the southern city of Madras said Azharuddin, one of the key names in the scandal, did not appear before the board's anti-corruption chief, K. Madhavan.
Madhavan, who began his own enquiry on Saturday, said he had no information on Azharuddin's whereabouts.
The former skipper has remained incommunicado since November 1 when the CBI charged him with recieving huge sums of money to fix matches on behalf of two bookmakers.
Azharuddin, 37, who led India for a decade in his 16-year career, has also been named by Indian batting star Sachin Tendulkar during his testimony to the CBI.
Anti-corruption chief Madhavan, a former CBI official, said he would offer one last opportunity to Azharuddin to appear before him.
Another tainted player, Ajay Sharma, citing medical reasons absented himself from the cross-examination in Madras saying he would answer questions to Madhavan in New Delhi instead.
Manoj Prabhakar, who had accused Indian cricket icon Kapil Dev of offering him a bribe to underplay in 1994, appeared before Madhavan for a five-hour closed-door session on Saturday.
Azharuddin, Prabhakar, Sharma, Ajay Jadeja and stumper Nayan Mongia have been named in the scandal by the CBI.
A court in the northern Indian city of Lucknow on Saturday lodged a case of treason against the five after an unnamed petitioner filed the case saying "match fixing and betting was an act of treason and betrayal."
A guilty verdict in a case of treason in India can lead to the death sentence.
In New Delhi, activists belonging to the Hindu right wing Shiv Sena party late late Saturday night attacked a beauty parlour owned by Prabhakar's wife in upscale Greater Kailash.
The Shiv Sena, which pelted Ajay Jadeja with rotten eggs on November 4 at a news conference here, has warned the group will step up such attacks against the tainted players.
The CBI has also named nine overseas players, several bookmakers and has said some Indian officials of the game were also involved in corruption.
The board, after banning the five players from playing in international and domestic matches, named Madhavan last week as the commissioner of its own inquiry.
But on Thursday it hit back at the CBI saying the agency had made "unjustified" comments against the authorities.
The CBI report had taken the board to task for its style of functioning, selection policies and alleged lack of accountability in selling television broadcasting rights for matches played in India.
It also charged some state cricket boards of nepotism.
Mail Cricket Editor
