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No names to be named in Chandrachud report

Justice Y V Chandrachud, who is inquiring into allegations of cricket match-fixing, will not name any particular player as being involved in match-fixing in his report.

In a television interview, Justice Chandrachud said, "The preponderance of views is that match-fixing is not easy in a team game like cricket."

According to a New Delhi Television (NDTv) spokesman, Justice Chandrachud, who began his inquiry four months ago, has now completed it and is expected to submit his report in early November.

"A lot of evidence has been laid before me, but no one has been able to provide concrete evidence that any particular player is involved in match-fixing. There may be some circumstantial evidence, but it is not enough," he said.

Justice Chandrachud also said that he had been unable to establish any link between betting on cricket, and match-fixing. "Two things that no law has been able to prevent are gambling and drinking. People bet on everything, from cricket to the number of a car.

''But it would be incorrect to say that just because there is gambling, there is also match-fixing," the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said. "I'm simply not willing to say that outside influences are running the game. That the game of cricket is being run by outside influences is too strong a statement to make. It is wrong to say that cricket is being run by bookies, and not by cricketers.''

Asked about former Test player Manoj Prabhakar's allegation that he had been offered a bribe to fix a match, Justice Chandrachud said that the allegation in itself could not be treated as sufficient evidence to indict any player.

Justice Chandrachud has also decided against recommending a police inquiry into the affair. "Even a police investigation will not yield anything. I have spoken to the Calcutta police, but even the police has admitted that it is not possible to name any particular player or point a finger at any player and say that he is involved in betting. Even if a player is involved in betting, do you think that he would be so foolish as to bet in his own name?"

However, the judge refused to accept that his inquiry was an eyewash, and an attempt by the BCCI to sweep the issue under the carpet.

''Just because I cannot name a player or fix responsibility on any group doesn't mean that the inquiry hasn't served any purpose," Justice Chandrachud said. "A criminal trial may not find anyone guilty, but that does not mean that the trial itself is useless.''