Prabhakar may be declared 'proclaimed offender'

Onkar Singh

The Uttaranchal Police has sought the Delhi police's help in executing a non-bailable warrant issued against former India Test cricketer Manoj Prabhakar.

This was disclosed by the Uttaranchal Director General of Police A K Saran during a conversation with rediff.com on Monday afternoon.

Though Prabhakar's wife maintained that the stories appearing in the newspapers about the non-bailable warrants against her husband are a figment of the media's imagination, the DGP confirmed that a warrant was indeed issued by a competent court in Haldwani last week.

"There are two different cases of forgery and cheating pending against Prabhakar, Divya Nautiyal and three others in Haldwani. The matter is being investigated by the Haldwani police and the information received so far says that the accused persons have cheated the public funds worth several crores. They had opened Apace Finance Company which had promised attractive interests on fixed deposits and other schemes," Saran said.

Asked if he has despatched a team to arrest Prabhakar in Delhi, Saran informed that a team from Haldwani is already in Delhi, and they will seek the help of the Delhi police in executing the warrants against Prabhakar.

"I am told that Prabhakar has removed the name plate from his house to avoid detection. We are also seeking the assistance of the Rajasthan police to find out if Prabhakar has gone to Jaipur to attend a seminar, as his wife told our men when they went looking for him at his residence in South Delhi," Saran said.

Asked what the police would do if Prabhakar seeks anticipatory bail in some court in Rajasthan or Delhi, Saran said: "If he gets it, then we will ask him to join in the investigations. If he does not join the investigations, then we will move the court to declare him a proclaimed offender."

Repeated attempts to contact Prabhakar failed as his wife said the cricketer is not in town.

Prabhakar had earlier denied his involvement in any finance company floated by Divya Nautiyal and had told rediff.com that those involved in the match-fixing scandal are indeed behind his troubles in UP and Uttaranchal.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, in a report, had named Prabhakar as one of the players involved in the match-fixing scandal.

Related reports:
Prabhakar denies links with Apace
Another cheating case against Prabhakar