rediff.com: 'Not a single player has confessed his involvement in match-fixing'

Not a single cricket player, questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation, has admitted to involvement in the match-fixing scandal. This was disclosed by Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Thursday.

He said: "Everybody knows that not all players are clean. Till date not a single person has come forward to confess his involvement in the scandal."

Reminded about his earlier stand that the government would take a lenient view if players, who may be involved, confessed their crime, the minister said he still stood by the same, but added, "It appears nobody will come forward to confess."

However, he asserted that the government is determined to go to the root of the controversy and bring to book the players and others guilty of bringing the game to disrepute.

"Come whatever may, we will go to the root of the scandal by conducting a thorough probe," Dhindsa said, complimenting the CBI "for doing an excellent job of the task entrusted to it".

When told that Law Minister Ram Jethmalani had said that nothing much would come out of the probe and the players should be forgiven, he said, "This is his personal opinion. We have committed to Parliament as well as to the people that government will do a thorough investigation. So, it is the duty of the government to find the truth and bring the guilty to book."

In April, Dhindsa had asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India to submit a report on utilisation of its huge funds and the code of conduct for its players. Though two months have passed, he said, no one from the BCCI has contacted him so far.

"There is no news from the BCCI in this regard. Two of the three months time they had asked for has lapsed. We will wait for the board's report," said.

Asked whether his ministry is still in touch with the South African authorities over the match-fixing issue, Dhindsa said: "The Sports Ministry is not in the picture now. It is the CBI and Delhi Police which is probing the case. As long as they are into it, the ministry is not going to do anything significant on the match-fixing issue."

Earlier, the minister had said that all players and officials, including Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev, against whom charges of match-fixing have been levelled, should stay out of the Indian team till cleared of the accusations.


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