Cricket -> Cricket News -> Report

Indian detectives may visit SA in February
Jan 06, 2001, 12:00 Hrs (IST)

New Delhi: New Delhi police will visit South Africa and Britain to pursue match-fixing charges against disgraced South African skipper Hansie Cronje, officials said on Friday.

"We have sought the (Indian) government's permission for this," Delhi police Commissioner Ajay Raj Sharma announced.

"The feedback so far from these countries has been inadequate," he said, adding that a high-powered team of detectives was likely to visit the two nations by the end of February.

Delhi Police crime branch detectives in April last year charged Cronje with accepting money from bookmakers to fix matches during South Africa's tour of India that March.

The police also named South African players Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom in the scandal, sparking off the biggest investigation worldwide ever into allegations of corruption in the game.

Sharma's detectives have sought the help of the Interpol on the whereabouts of a London-based Indian bookie, Sanjiv Chawla, in connection with the Cronje scandal.

Police here have said they secretly taped Cronje's conversations with Chawla before charging the player with match fixing.

South Africa's King Commission chief prosecutor Shamila Batohi visited India in September and agreed to send details of telephone calls made by Cronje to bookmakers in India and abroad.

Police chief Sharma also said that since Cronje had filed a "few petitions in South Africa courts, nothing much could be done as long as the matter was sub-judice."

Copyright AFP 2000