Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin did admit that he spoke with underworld don Abu Salem, accepted an amount of Rs 10 lakh for providing information on three matches and introduced alleged bookie Mukesh Gupta to the late South Africa captain Hansie Cronje.
An exclusive report in Outlook magazine by Aniruddha Bahal reveals that these confessions were part of a note Azharuddin wrote after the Central Bureau of Investigation interrogated him. The fax copy of the hand-written note - his recollection of what transpired during his eight-hour grilling by CBI - was among the documents recovered during an Income Tax raid in a Mumbai home in 2000.
On his association with Abu Salem, Azharuddin wrote: "They said that during the Chandigarh match in 1996 you spoke to him. I said I don't know and have not spoken to him. They said he offered you 1.25 cr to fix a match. I said no. I kept lying to them all the time. In the end they played the tapes of him talking to me. It was very embarrassing.
"I told them that when these people call you have to talk to them otherwise the consequences are bad and life threatening. Luckily for me I was man of the match in that match and India won the game. The CBI said that we do understand that these things happen. I refused to agree to Abu Salem's offer. The CBI was aware of that as they had heard that on the tape."
Azharuddin's note also indicated, "I told the CBI that I took Rs 10 lakh for providing information in three games." He identified the matches as the Titan Cup match against South Africa in Rajkot in 1996 (India lost by five wickets), a match against Sri Lanka in 1997 and a One-Day International against Pakistan in Jaipur in 1999 (India lost by 143 runs). He also wrote that he had talked to [Nayan] Mongia and [Ajay] Jadeja about it.
Azharuddin's note revealed that he introduced Mukesh Gupta to the then South African captain Hansie Cronje as a jeweller.
"After that what they spoke I really don't know at all. I didn't tell Cronje that he was a bookie."
The note also took potshots at Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and a certain Sachin.
When contacted in Hyderabad, Azharuddin, who is serving a life-ban for his role in the match-fixing episode and now fighting it in court, told Outlook, "What can I say. I can't remember these things."
The report will appear in the Outlook issue dated April 18, which will hit the stands on Saturday (April 9).
