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Call to probe match-fixing

Former Test cricketer turned BJP MP Kirti Azad today called for the setting up of a judicial commission, on the lines of the Justice Quayyum Commission in Pakistan, to investigate charges of match-fixing against Indian cricketers.

''The only way to sort out this problem is to have an inquiry headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to investigate the allegations and decide once and for all whether our cricketers are clean or not.''

Kirti's remarks came in the course of a debate, 'The Big Fight', on the Star News channel. The newly-elected BJP Member of Parliament said that during the winter session of parliament he would raise the issue, and push parliament to agreeing for further investigation of the matter.

''If anyone has any evidence of match-fixing, they can place it before the commission, and then let the judge decide whether there is any truth in it.''

In the course of the debate, former India cricket manager Sunil Dev and former India cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi also agreed that match-fixing existed in Indian cricket.

''I am certain that some Indian cricketers have been involved in match-fixing,'' said Dev, who was the manager of the Indian team on a tour to South Africa a few years ago. Asked to give names, Dev, however, did not name anyone, but said, ''Let the government order a CBI inquiry, I will give the names of the players involved to the CBI," he said.

Bedi said that it was a pity that the great game of cricket had been sullied by the match-fixing allegations.

"If Pakistani cricketers are involved, I find it difficult to believe that Indian players are above it all. This is a disease of the 1990s and it needs to be rooted out before it reaches the new millennium," he said.

All the panelists felt that the Justice Chandrachud commission, appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, had not really served the purpose.

"How can you have a committee appointed by the board investigating allegations against itself and the players? We need a more impartial inquiry," Dev said.

Both Bedi and Dev felt that it may be necessary to look into the assets of the players as part of the investigations.

"What is wrong if the players are investigated? It's the only way the game can be cleaned," said Bedi.

UNI