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'We have got his voice as proof'

The transcript of a telephone conversation between Special Correspondent Syed Firdaus Ashraf and Inspector Ishwar Singh, the Delhi police officer who investigated the alleged match-fixing scandal.

REAL AUDIO LINK:
Hear Inspector Ishwar Singh

May I speak to Inspector Ishwar Singh?

No, he is not in. (Replied the voice from the other end, which one presumed was that of the inspector's wife.)

When will he come back?

He has not been coming home for the last two days. Possibly, he may come today. I'll give you the mobile number and you can contact him over the phone. (the lady says politely).

Ashraf gets through to Inspector Ishwar. And here is what the police officer said:

Inspector Ishwar Singh: We got the information that some criminals are going to extort money from some businessmen. During the development of that course, we came to know that certain people are also involved in match-fixing. And then we got three to four mobile numbers and kept monitoring those phone numbers.

And one of them was of Sanjeev Chawla. On that phone, when we tapped, we came to know that he was having a conversation with the South African captain Hansie Cronje.

In the very first call, he identified himself as 'Hi! Hansie'. And Hansie replies back stating, 'Hi! Sanjay.'

And again he says that he is in the lobby and room no 346. The room in which Hansie was staying during the Pepsi Cup.

Why did you not catch Cronje when he was in India?

We were monitoring his phone regularly. When the South African team was here we were expecting more breakthroughs in the case. It took some time and only then we registered a case on April 6.

Singh, however, denied that Sanjeev Chawla -- the man who allegedly called up Cronje -- was involved in any criminal activity previously, but said he is the subject of an investigation and will certainly be interrogated if and when he comes to India.

Cronje has denied his involvement and stated that the charges are baseless...

We have got his voice as proof against him. And we will certainly get more details as one of the accomplices, Rajesh Kalra, is on remand for two days.

I am sure we will get more details in the case after further detailed investigation.

Can the Delhi police get Cronje back to India?

We will take up the matter with Interpol. And it is up to Interpol how they get him back here.

Is any Indian cricketer involved in the case?

So far we have not got any information on that count.