Massive cover-up alleged in match-fixing case

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 19. As the match-fixing controversy surfaced for the second time in Parliament this week, the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, agreed that there should be a proper inquiry to clear the air and also endorsed the suggestion for making public the report of the Chandrachud Committee on betting in cricket.

But he skirted the demand for a CBI inquiry into the match-fixing case saying the Central Bureau of Investigation was not under his Ministry.

The Sports Ministry was looking into it and he would ask the Sports Minister to make a statement, he told the Lok Sabha.

Later, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, said the Government had no objection to a discussion on the subject.

Members in both Houses expressed concern over the controversy saying a massive ``cover-up'' was going on.

In the Rajya Sabha, some members called the Chandrachud Committee's report a ``whitewash'' and demanded an impartial inquiry. There was also a suggestion for a ban on betting.

The nominated member, Mr. Cho Ramaswamy, created ripples with his remark that after cricket bookies could be betting on the number of members voting for or against a bill.

In the Lok Sabha, the Congress(I)'s Mr. Kamal Nath alleged a ``massive cover-up'' and said that pending a CBI inquiry, as suggested by members, the management of cricket should be taken over by a government-nominated body: a suggestion opposed by the BJP's Mr. V. K. Malhotra.

The general sense in both Houses was that the BCCI had not paid sufficient attention to the problem and that things were likely to get out of hand if not dealt with firmly even at this late stage.

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Section  : National
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