MURALI KRISHNAN writes from New Delhi: A week after Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s national coach, was killed in the upscale Jamaica Pegasus Hotel where he and the rest of the Pakistan squad had been staying, investigators are nowhere near knowing who committed the murder, let alone who ordered it.
Perhaps they never will.
Celebrated cricket columnists and would-be investigative reporters have now written tomes since the horrid incident midway through the World Cup about the possible motives of bumping off the ‘Man Who Knew Too Much’.
What was it? A hit job, a team plot, a disgruntled fan seeking revenge, the betting and match-fixing mafia theories have all been explored and dissected but Jamaica’s Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields and his able men are still befuddled as is the rest of the cricketing world of the possible reason.
Don’t be surprised. That has been the case in every mucky episode that has hit international cricket in recent years. A flurry of inquiries which then drifts to a disturbing silence.
# How did $11,500 mysteriously appear one fine morning in December 2003 in the hotel room of Sri Lanka’s then captain Marvan Atapattu during a Test match gainst England? What happened to the probe ordered by Sri Lanka’s criminal investigation department and the investigation of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Security Unit to get to the bottom of this?
# Why was there no further follow-up to Tarannum Khan, the dancing girl of Mumbai’s Deepa Bar, arrested in November 2005 who was alleged to be involved in a huge cricket betting scandal and known for her proximity to key players n the Sri Lankan team and Indian bookies?
Before Hansiegate in 2000, the betting market underworld was notorious, setting up a majority of international matches and their influence was so overpowering that most of the players stayed tight-lipped.
New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming should know. He was offered $370,200 during the 1999 World Cup to join a match-fixing syndicate, which hinted at links to prominent sportsmen.
He details the incident in his book, Balance of Power, saying he was approached in the bar of the team’s hotel in the English city of Leicester during the 1999 World Cup by a man later identified as sports promoter, Aushim Khetrapal, an associate of notorious Indian bookmaker Sanjeev Chawla—the same man who proved to be Hansie Cronje’s nemesis.
The full story of the match-fixing scandal in 2000 that came close to destroying world cricket will never be revealed.
In his seminal article following Cronje’s unexpected death in a plane crash in May 2002, Daniel Murt of London’s Observer noted quoting an investigator close to the case: “A lot of people wanted Cronje dead.”
“They feared that he (Cronje) would one day tell the full truth, and then many more would be implicated. I know people who have looked closely into what happened but who were warned off by threatening phone calls. They’re scared of getting a bullet in the head. I understand that police have found vidence of sabotage, but they’re reluctant to go public on this. The full cost of a follow-up investigation would be too great in a country that is already riven by crime.”
“It suits the police to have a closed case.”
Like Woolmer, Cronje too was also planning to write a “warts and all” book.
Many had expected that cricket had been purged of the taint of match-fixing and betting syndicates after the King‘s Commission in 2000 when cricketing boards around the world got their act together by slapping fines and handing
out life bans to cricketers.
But the untimely death of Woolmer, whom Clive Rice, his closest friend, unequivocally insists had been murdered on the instructions of a betting syndicate, clearly shows that the mafia is still up and kicking.
So, as Scotland Yard trained Shields pores through fingerprints in Woolmer’s room, examines DNA samples of the Pakistani team, scans CCTV footage and inspects card key swipes of those who had access to the twelfth floor on that fateful night as well as scrutinises why bookmakers were offering odds of 8-1 for Ireland to beat Pakistan, the conjectures and speculations swirl.
Perhaps, for the sake of cricket and more importantly for the memory of Woolmer, one of the best-known names in cricket and known for his reputation as a sportsman with a strong set of ethics, this case needs to be busted!
27 March 2007 at 8:04 pm
There is an adage in Kannada: Hana endare, hena bai bidutade. Translated in Hindi, it could be Cash kehanese laash bhi mooh kholega or in English it means even a corpse will rattle at the jingle of coins. Please don’t presume that I am preaching some values or goody goody things of life.
But going by the latest trends, in India as well as around the world, the word infinity has found a new synonym and that happens to be GREED. Be it the Tatas, the Ambanis, the Ruias, the Birlas or the Daridranarayan round the corner in our own neighbourhood, everyone is greedy. In such a scenario, the cricketers are no exception since they also wish to make hay when the sun shines.
On the one hand, the controlling bodies of sports and even the society are critical of the betting that goes on. Reports galore of police busting a betting racket and all that. However, none has objected to a couple of newspapers who fancy in publishing the odds and evens in the stakes. Being a media person, I feel utterly disgusted to say that these certain organs of media (regarded as vox-populi and torch-bearers of ethics, ethos, values and sane governance), are themselves the prime culprits. The author Murali Krishnan has made a mention of Khetrapal who at one time while heading Radiant Sports Management proclaimed himself as a saviour of sports and games in India. But all those self assertions were short lived. His involvement in the racket of betting became an open secret. Unfortunately, the law of the land that harps on evidence never hauled him up before any court for the want of that very proof. After all, where law begins justice ends and that is why we have Minister for Law and Justice. First the law and then the justice.
28 March 2007 at 3:38 am
SP
I agree. There is this Indian cricketer named Rahul Sharma in Hong Kong and he has properties at Monte Carlo. And this guy was only a headhunter in Hong Kong! He is known to be heavily into cricket betting and related shit! And insiders say this accounted for his unaccounted wealth!
A BLUE-PRINT FOR A BETTER LIVABLE HONEST INDIA
In fact, I have a simple solution to the problem: just legalize cricket betting. Then watch all these Islamic mafia dons and their shit carriers run away and the game can be cleaned up overnight. It is assholes in India who are against lotteries, arrack and such out-dated ‘Gandhian’ values who have contributed directly to this state of affairs.
I am all for State Governments supporting lotteries through independent companies vetted by authority. In Bangalore it can be BTC on even MSIL.
Ditto with arrack–at the end of the day, poor people in India need cheap clean liquor–arrack distilled from sugar cane is your man. And, India makes that commodity plenty! Whats wrong with these bastard politicians? Then if they are so concerned, reduce the duty on other liquor and distribute it through PDS channels.
We should be proud of our own drinking traditions–where possible start alcoholics anonymous centers. Educate people, give them help. Don’t just ban arrack and make poor people drink that illicit liquor!
28 March 2007 at 3:46 am
A BLUE-PRINT FOR A BETTER LIVABLE HONEST INDIA contd..
Asshole Politicians!
Stop interfering with the simple pleasures of life of the poor folk!
Don’t just ban things that look good for you bastards because the weakest cannot hit back at hypocritical assholes like yourselves!
If you have the same balls, go ahead and ban whiskey beer brandy and all such liquor! I know you won’t do that…
28 March 2007 at 5:27 am
A BLUE-PRINT FOR A BETTER LIVABLE HONEST INDIA contd..
Well if some MBA types try to eff around this issue–here is a googly.
The biggest lottery in India is run from Dalal Street. It is called the Stock Market–and the Government makes money from it. Just work on bringing the same ‘ease-of-use’ to instant stake holders in small transient companies called ‘Weekly Lotteries’ where a finite number of stock holders are willing to gamble away their entire value of stock.
28 March 2007 at 9:18 am
Ella politicians hypocrites. I know ‘hypocrite’ is too polite a word for these scums. Lottery ban maadidhrey race hucchu shuru aaguthe. Arrack will be replaced by costlier drinks. Ella business moves rather than any social considerations. End of the day, they can say our GDP has grown. These guys should be fed live to hundreds of hungry crocodiles.