Ajay Jadeja denied being ever involved in match-fixing during his career as stated in the Central Bureau of Investigation Report on match-fixing at a press conference at a packed Indian Women Press Corps premises here on Saturday.

The 2.30 pm press conference was delayed by 30 minutes when demonstrators and protestors in saffron and black clothes stormed into the premises shouting slogans and pelting eggs. The protestors left only after newsmen who had gathered at the venue shooed them away.

Jadeja addressed the mediamen only through a written statement. He refused to answer questions made by the mediamen and insisted that all the answers were included in the typed 15-page statement.

Commenting on Mohammed Azharuddin's claims that he had 'made' matches with Jadeja and Nayan Mongia, Jadeja said the statement was totally false. "Azhar claimed that Nayan Mongia and I were involved along with him. However, MK Gupta in his statement nowhere corroborates my involvement in this," Jadeja said.

Refuting the charges levelled against him in the report, Jadeja said, "At no time in my career have I been involved with match-fixing as defined in the CBI Report."

In the statement in response to the allegations made against him in the CBI Report Jadeja said, "At no point of time have I ever accepted money or any other form of consideration for under-performing in a cricket match, whether at domestic, international or any other level."

Jadeja, not in his usual jovial self, denied to respond to queries involving other players as he just focussed on his subject. As to the authenticity of the report of the CBI, he declined to comment on it as a whole, but as far as he was concerned, he thought the verdict passed on him was unfair and the report "premised on evidence that is false and concocted".

On his alleged links with bookies as mentioned in the Report namely Rajesh Kalra, Rattan Mehta, Kishan Kumar, Uttam Chand, the statement says: "I do acknowledge that I know, to varying degrees, some of the persons mentioned in the report." However, "at no time been aware of their involvement with betting and match-fixing, and have never received any money from them, in relation to match-fixing or for any other purpose," the statement adds.

He particularly emphasised on his alleged link with Rajesh Kalra, who he admitted knowing him, as mentioned in the report, but denied having passed on any information or having discussed about cricket with him.

Jadeja also denied allegations made by Rattan Mehta that he had taken 'judgement' on matches from Jadeja sometimes. "I deny that I have ever made or provided any such judgement about any cricket matches to Rattan Mehta," says the statement.

Jadeja denied ever having met MK Gupta stated in the report. He says, "I completely refute that this meeting (between MK and Jadeja in 1996) took place at any point of time."

According to Jadeja much of the CBI's report was based on phone records and the testimony of Rattan Mehta, on whose word the report had laid great stress.

Denying the charges of phone calls being made to him during games at Guwahati and Jamshedpur, the cricketer said that it was not possible since his cellphone provider Airtel, did not have the roaming facility for those cities.

The statement was backed up by a letter from the company confirming it had no roaming arrangement with the local operators in either city.

The statement says: "Knowing this was the case, the CBI nonetheless has chosen this non-existent evidence as one of the main pillars of their case against me. The evidence of other phone calls cited by the CBI against me is equally dubious."

"The completed conversations between Uttam Chand and myself should appear on my phone bills, however these are at no time mentioned or used as evidence in the report. This is a telling example of the selective and distorted use of evidence to arrive at what appears to be a predetermined conclusion," adds the statement.