BCCI calls emergency meeting to discuss bribery scandal

The Indian board has called an emergency meeting on November 30 to discuss the bribery scandal which has hit Indian cricket. The decision to have the meeting, which will be held in New Delhi, comes four days after Kiran More and Pranab Roy - both national selectors - alleged that Abhijit Kale had offered a bribe in return for a place in the Indian team. Kale has subsequently been suspended from playing cricket until an inquiry into the matter is completed.

Meanwhile, fresh allegations of corruption emerged when Ritesh Yadav, a candidate for the under-17 Uttar Pradesh team, claimed that the state selectors demanded money from him for a place in the squad. According to a report in The Times of India, Yadav told a television channel: "They asked me to pay Rs 50,000 (approx. US$1090). When I said I can't, they said, `Thank you. You may go.' When I gave this in writing to Jagmohan Dalmiya, he assured me that he would look into the matter. But now it seems no action was taken."

Yadav's statement comes in the wake of another claim made just a day earlier when Vanka Pratap, a former India A player, stated that he too was asked for money by the selectors. Vanka also quoted the example of Noel David, an offspinner from Hyderabad who was a surprise inclusion in the Indian team for the West Indies tour in 1996-97, to suggest that places in the Indian team were up for sale. Kanwaljit Singh, the offspinner who was considered more likely to go on that tour, however, played down Vanka's comments, and told the newspaper: "To be truthful, I was never approached by anyone during my entire playing career on such an issue."

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) came out strongly in support of Kale, with Balasaheb Thorve, its chairman, demanding that an inquiry be conducted against the two selectors also. "I feel Kale is innocent and he has been denied natural justice," Thorve told The Times of India.. "The only way truth can come out is if both the selectors and Kale undergo lie-detector tests. The onus to prove the allegations now rests on the shoulder of the two selectors."