NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Khetrapal slaps one million pound case against weekly

Sports promoter Aushim Khetrapal today vehemently denied allegations that he offered 300,000 pounds sterling to former cricketer Chris Lewis to persuade England players to throw away a Test match against New Zealand, and slapped a one million pound case against the London-based weekly News of the World.

The weekly had published a story which quoted Chris Lewis as saying that Khetrapal had offered him money and ''asked to offer similar amounts to former England captain and wicketkeeper Alec Stewart and fast bowler Allan Mullally, for dropping catches and bowling wides".

Talking to mediapersons in Delhi this afternoon, Khetrapal described the whole story in the weekly as "a figment of imagination". He said: ''This gutter journalism cannot be allowed to get away with everything.''

He declared that he would also file a case against Chris Lewis "for accusing me of match-fixing".

Khetrapal said he will be sending the details of the whole issue to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its commission on match-fixing, and assured the ICC and even Scotland yard full cooperation.

''Whatever they want, wherever they want me to be, I will present myself. The sooner they do it the better.''

Khetrapal admitted meeting Chris Lewis in England on July 29/30. ''I met him (Chris Lewis) to arrange and coordinate the England team for the M P Pandove benefit match, to be played in Punjab. Lewis later told me that he could not arrange more than eight players and the matter was dropped there. I also met New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming and West Indies captain Brian Lara during my stay in England, but I never offered them any money.''

He asserted that his meeting with Chris Lewis was held in presence of five people in a house of one Mr Patel and "there was never any such talk while I was there".

Khetrapal also admitted that he gave Stephen Fleming his business card. "Why would I have left my card with him if I had shady business of match-fixing in mind," he asked.

He said he had to go to England to arrange a team, as an earlier planned match between an India eleven and a Sri Lanka eleven, scheduled for July 10 at Mohali, was cancelled as the Sri Lankan board refused permission to its players.

Khetarpal claimed that he had offered 70,000 to 90,000 pounds to the English players for the match, but there was no offer for match-fixing. "I have never done such a thing in my sports promoting career so far, so why should I do it now."

He distributed copies of the agreements he had signed with ESPN-Star Sports, to the telecast the July 10 match, and the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), to host M.P. Pandove benefit match, and a letter purportedly signed by Ajay Jadeja, mentioning names of the 12 Indian players who had agreed to play.

Khetrapal's lawyer Anis Suharwardy, who was also present at the press conference, asserted: "Chris Lewis has cooked up the story for the purpose of defaming his client for obvious reasons."

He, however, did not elaborate or explain the "obvious reasons", but said, " statement is a wrong thing at the wrong time."

UNI