Ram Adhar Choudhary, accused
in the CBI Report of accepting Rs. 50,000 from Ajay Sharma to doctor the
pitch for the Test match against Australia in 1996, claims that the CBI
coerced him into giving the statement.
Speaking to an Indian website, Choudhary said that he was intimidated by
CBI officials into giving the testimony. "Around three months ago,
three men from the CBI came to the Ferozeshah Kotla ground and enquired
about me. The time was around 11 am. When they found me, they asked me to
follow them to their waiting car. Before getting into the car, one of them
told me to say I had taken money to tailor the Kotla pitch so that it
would suit spinners," said Choudhary. "When I protested and said
such a thing had not taken place, one of them slapped me. All this took
place right in front of Gate No 3 of the stadium," he said.
Choudhary however does not deny having
met Sharma at Rajghat a few days prior to the Test match. "After I
had finished my duty, at around 5 pm in the evening, a stranger approached
me and asked me to come with him to meet Ajay Sharma at Rajghat. I knew
Ajay Sharma since he played at the Ferozeshah Kotla often. So I went to
Rajghat with the stranger on his scooter," he said. "Ajay Sharma
was waiting for me at Rajghat. He offered me Rs 3000 to tailor the pitch
in such a way that it would take spin from the first day. I straightaway
rejected the offer. He then threatened me, telling me to accept the money
and doctor the pitch.
"I told him that I could do nothing
since the head groundsman, Radhey Shyam, was in charge of laying the pitch
and my duty was only to water it. After that, we left Rajghat," said
Ram Adhar. The groundsman vigourously denies any involvement in
match-fixing and says his statement to the CBI was given under duress.
"The pitch was not prepared in two days, it was done over a month. So
the way the pitch behaved in the Test match was not because it was
prepared in two days, but over a month," he said. |
