When all fingers pointed towards him, why Kapil Dev continues to be unscathed in the ugly match fixing saga of cricket?

VERY FEW OF THE  CRICKETERS hold a place with so much respect and enthusiasm in the hearts of fans as much as Kapil Dev has. His larger than life persona, particularly after Indian cricket team’s miracle 1983 World Cup win in England, has inspired almost every young player who has ever cradled a dream of playing for India. 

But apart from his sublime era-defined persona there are also some undissolved stains that have left an indelible impression on his image. The match-fixing allegations in the 90s against him were never proved in the eyes of the law, but the event that happened and given the seriousness of the charges the possibility of Kapil’s involvement could also not be ignored. Did the messiah figure he had back then protect him or the frenzy of his loyalist and blind-followers be it an ordinary, actor, politician or the players itself never were ready to acknowledge the fact he could even think of doing such a thing leave aside his actual execution of crime.

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Fixing allegations on Kapil

The thing started to get into the notice from the 1987 World Cup semifinal match between India and England in which the British batsman Graham Gooch was repeatedly hitting sweep shots in the same direction but no fielder was deployed. India lost the match by 35 runs.

In 1991 too, in a match against Pakistan, the Indian team didn’t walk off even when there was a clear shortage of light. India lost the match which could have been won on the basis of revised run-rate. Surprisingly, Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin got out on the score of zero.

But the real heat emerged when Kapil Dev in 1992, was seen driving  a BMW car, a rare sight for a cricketer back then. Kapil dodged the questions by saying it was a gift from a South African automobile businessman, Ibrahim, in return for a modelling assignment. But later when a CBI inquiry team began working on the case in 2000, there  was no trace of such a person.

During the Singer World Series team member Manoj Prabhakar complained to Indian cricket team manager and former Indian team captain Ajit Wadekar about Kapil’s offer of Rs 25 lakh to play bad against Pakistan, after which Wadekar, a reputable figure at that time, put players' telephone on tap in a secrecy. He revealed about tapping only after leaving  the post of manager, later.

It was a time when match-fixing had become prevalent all around the corner of the cricketing world. In 1994 two Australian cricketers Sharne Warne and Mark Waugh were caught dealing with Indian bookie and Pakistan cricket team’s captain Salim Malik offering Australian players to lose the match. All three were banned. But the cricket boards were hiding these things so that the brand of cricket remained intact.

In November 1994 kapil dev retired and he started to work with an american company Musco Lighting to work on stadium light projects.

In May 1995 a supreme court lawyer Virender Kumar Ohri reached Mumbai to meet Rakesh Maria, the then Mumbai Crime Branch Chief. Ohri claimed to have overheard a conversation of Rakesh with a Bookie who mentioned that in India’s 1994 tour of New Zealand, Bookies have profited with worth of Rs 16 crore and Kapil Dev was offered Rs 1 crore of it and another 25 lakh were transferred as a fake modelling assignment and also they managed all his travel expense.

Lawyer Ohri later confirmed that all to Outlook Magazine in an affidavit. But until then, considering it was only an allegation of bookie, the interview didn’t get published.

But the real dent in the image of Kapil came two years later on June 2, 1997 when manoj prabhakar, also the part of Indian cricket team, in an interview with Outlook magazine’s weekly reporter Anirudh Bahal, revealed that during Singer World Series in 1994, he was offered 25 lakh by a senior Indian cricketer to play bad so that Pakistan can win. The interview, published on the front page of the magazine, became a sensation across the country. 

On June 6, 1997 International Cricket Council President Jagmohan Dalmia asked Manoj about the allegation. Manoj refused to disclose the name of the senior Indian cricketer due to threats and defamation. BCCI on June 20, 1997 made an inquiry committee under retired Supreme Court Justice Yashwant Chandrachud. 

Later in October 1999, Kapil became coach of the Indian  cricket team and the fresh row emerged again when India didn’t give New Zealand follow-on (A test match rule in which the batting team might be invited to bat again after failing to achieve a particular score of the opponent) and the match  got drawn. The bookies already knew this decision of India.

The direct allegation on Kapil Dev begins 

Up until now no clear mention of the name of Kapil Dev was in public. In an Income Department raid on business man Ramnik Chawda, a diary record showed a transaction to a code name KD, who received money in cash, cheque and draft. Ramnik directly named Kapil Dev. Kapil acknowledged about cash and draft but declined to receive any cash. 

In 2000, South African cricketer Hansie Cronje’s match fixing controversy erupted and Mohammad Azharuddin's name was also involved. The issue was raised in the parliament.

A later inquiry was handed over to the CBI which searched all the betting networks, bookmarkers and their possible links with the cricketers.

A former BCCI official raised the name of a Ranaji player Karan Dubay as a right hand man of Kapil Dev and he showed his suspicion regarding income and assets of Kapil Dev in relation with what his earnings were.

Later when CBI asked Manoj again, he this time also directly named Kapil Dev as the same senior cricketer who offered him 25 lakh in 1994. He further revealed that he told captain Azharuddin, team manager Ajit Wadekar and Ravi Shastri but nothing happened. He also mentioned Hiren Hathi, the person through whom Kapil executed these things. But when CBI reached all the players and persons whom Manoj told about the incident, they all were suspicious but didn’t explicitly support Manoj’s claims. 

Later in a sting operation of Tehlaka, a platform by journalists Anirudh Bahal and Tarun Tejpal approached Manoj and offered him to do a sting operation with a hidden camera and convince everyone in an informal conversation, who dare not speak before CBI, to expose Kapil Dev.

Bishan Singh Bedi directly named Kapil Dev in the Rs 25  lakh allegation. Ajit wadekar also named Kapil Dev and said that he couldn’t formally name him as Kapil and Sunil Gavaskar has the support of BCCI power broker Jagmohan Dalmia.

Navjot Singh Siddhu, opening Indian batsman, who previously refused to be involved changed his stance citing that he had many Kapil Dev’s favour upon him.

Another major claim from the sting was that sports minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa claimed that the then Home Minister  Lal Krishna Advani was initially not interested in handing over the case to CBI.

On May 27, 2000 Manoj with Tehlaka members showed the operation to everyone in Delhi's meridian hotel. The nation erupted in chaos and a nationwide outrage all over the country.

The person who was worshipped all over the country was now maligned. The chapters on him from the school books were reportedly removed.

In July 2000, CBI, Income Tax, Local Police launched a joint mission called ‘Operation Gentleman’ to find proof against the players. They raided kapil’s hotel, house and office premise on morning July 20, 2000. After having no direct link to Kapil's link in alleged match-fixing, the officials doubted that the settlement of money between bookies and players was happening through the land deals. 

Three questions were became suspicious regarding Kapil Dev

In a first, Kapil purchased a 100 acre land below market rates and the papers of this land deal were recovered from the same Karan Dubay’s home whose name already was involved in match fixing. When CBI asked whom he purchased the land, Kapil mentioned the name of Kewal Joshi. The land deal existed but no such person was ever found by CBI.

Second, Related to the purchase of a BMW car in 1992, Kapil mentioned that a person named Ibrahim who runs an autocity garage based in South Africa, gifted him in return for a modelling assignment. Ibrahim was never found and also there were no details of such assignment also. 

In the third, New Zealand test follow-on row Kapil said that it was a mutual decision.

Later CBI raided Gujarati Businessman Hiren Hathi based on a tip from a former BCCI official. They recovered a diary from his home. The diary said, Kapil received a contract installing lights in a stadium but the stadium officials in return of payment offered Kapil stadium’s advertising rights. But instead of getting those rights he transferred them to a company whose owners were Hiren Hathi and Ajay Jadeja. On September 12, 2026 Kapil resigned as a coach of team India.

CBI submitted its final report on October 30, 2000 to the Sports Ministry and accused Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma, Nayan Mongia and Manoj Prabhakar with direct proof but no direct proof was established against Kapil Kev and he got a clean chit.

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The larger public response to the controversy

In the end, in CBI finding Kapil Dev was not found guilty due to lack of direct evidence against him and in the longer time that followed, the public perception against him has somehow remained positive. But this does not mean that the allegations against him all disappeared.

He was the powerhouse of Indian Cricket but didn’t receive his due discredit like other cricketers. He escaped all the allegations as if nothing had ever happened. What about Manoj Prabhakar’s allegations, what about the sting operation in which a giant personality accepted Kapil’s involvement, what about the missing Ibrahim and Kewal Joshi who were never found and what about Booki's allegation in the Rs.16 crore scam. 

In a May 2000 interview with BBC, Kapil Dev broke into tears and rejected all the corruption allegations against him. He said he would rather die than take bribes. “ I put my heart, soul and tears, my everything into the game and this is what I get,” he said. This triggered the emotional response of his devoted milieu and a deluge of support showered upon him.

All these allegations now may not be established but the dent upon his image will always be there. Although the larger public perception don’t seem to care too much about the allegations and they still revered him as a great figure, he still owes a responsibility to all the questions that were raised and most of all to the spirit of the cricket.

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