NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Lost, somewhere in London: a man called Chawla

Paran Balakrishnan in London

Sanjeev Chawla, the man the Delhi police want to interrogate about the Cronje tapes, hasn't dropped by at his shop in Oxford Street, London, for the last few days.

Chawla, named as the one who phoned South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje in Delhi, is behind Toro, an Oxford Street shop, which sells a mix of products including women's garments and watches.

Chawla is a director of the Commercial Clothing Company, which owns Toro. He has been its director since 1996. The company has a turnover of about one million pounds sterling.

Rajiv Khurana, described as the organisation's 'company secretary' by The Sunday Times, was also not available at the shop on Monday.

Toro is similar to dozens of other shops in Oxford Street that sell low-priced garments. It also advertises 'exclusive leather' products. It is just two doors away from a pizza hut that does brisk business.

Both Chawla and Khurana drop by at the shop at regular intervals, according to shop assistants, but they don't stay there throughout the day.

Meanwhile, Interpol has not received any information about the Cronje tapes from its counterparts in India. Informing Interpol would be the first step if the Delhi police wants to follow up the case at the international level.

Khurana has told The Sunday Times that Chawla claims to be innocent. According to him, the police are framing him.

The Delhi police believe that Chawla talked to Cronje on March 14 just before a one-day international match between South Africa and India.

The South Africans have flatly denied the allegations.

RELATED REPORT
ED, Delhi police raid Chawla's house

THE BETTING CONTROVERSY
The complete coverage