Two days ago, Al Jazeera released the second part of its investigative documentary feature on match fixing in the international cricket between 2011-12 by an alleged bookie named Aneel Munawar. Following this, the International Cricket Council (ICC) made another appeal to the broadcaster to come forward with some evidence to help its investigations into the matter.
“The ICC is committed to working to uphold integrity in cricket. As you would expect, we will again take the contents of the programme and any allegations it may make seriously and will investigate fully,” said Alex Marshall, general manager, Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), ICC.
The cricket body had, on August 28, made a public appeal to find more information on Munawar. “The alleged fixer Munawar remains unidentified. We have identified every other person in the original documentary and have spoken to a number of them in connection with match fixing. Including those who are not deemed to be under our Anti-Corruption Code. However, the true identity of Aneel Munawar remains a mystery,” Marshall said.
Who is Aneel Munawar? How is he managing to stay so elusive?
The television grabs released by ICC show a dark, lanky individual sporting a french beard. According to THE WEEK's sources, a similar sounding name had reportedly come up in some recordings related to an old match fixing investigation. This is in connection with Gujarat's betting kingpin Dinesh Kalgi who died in 2014. Kalgi's resort had been raided by Ahmedabad Police as it was the place where the Indian Cricket League (ICL) players stayed or visited. The ICL, which was banned by the BCCI, was shut down over alleged corruption issues.
As per exclusive information available with THE WEEK, Munawar's name finds no mention in any of the BCCI anti corruption records—past or present—nor does his name figure with any of India's leading investigation agencies. A search on the Interpol website too does not throw up any results.
“His name has never come up in any records nor does he figure in any BCCI records ,” said a top investigator, who probed matters related to the the D-Company, to THE WEEK. In fact, the predominant view amongst Indian investigators is that he is a sham.
“He claims he is working for D-Company, but in all likelihood he was just conning....To the best of my knowledge, his identity has not been fixed,” said the investigator.
In fact, a team of ICC's ACU recently visited India in this regard and interacted with various police departments and investigators, but found nothing on Munawar.
The Indian investigators cite the example of a bookie, going by the name Sobers Joban, who was nabbed. He was featured in a sting operation by the English daily The Sun. He had claimed that he had played alongside Indian skipper Virat Kohli in Delhi. He had also boasted about signals given to players before overs during an Indian Premier League match.
It turned out that this was just a “boast”. “He and his accomplice were on our radar. We interrogated them alongside an ICC team and it turned out to be a sham,” said the investigator.
Experts also cast aspersions on his name. “His name, the way its pronounced and spelled is suspicious. Aneel is a Persian word,” said the expert.
Clearly hitting a dead end, the ACU stated that it welcomes Al Jazeera's move to share the information with Interpol. “As with the first programme we have, and will continue to ask for the cooperation of the broadcaster. We have made repeated efforts to engage with the broadcaster as it can play such a crucial part in the full and thorough investigation it has called for. We do welcome the commitment from the broadcaster to share the files with Interpol and, I hope, other law enforcement agencies who can act upon the information and support us in ridding the sport of these criminals,” said Marshall.