AT Dhaka this year during the ICC knockout trophy, I was approached by Sakyasen Mitra, a Calcutta-based journalist working for the Hyderabad daily, Eenadu. In the presence of another Calcutta-based journalist, Mitra gave me the first hint that he could corroborate Manoj Prabhakar's story about an offer being made to him of Rs 25 lakh by an Indian team-mate to perform badly in the India-Pakistan encounter of the 1994 Singer Cup in Colombo.
Mitra had overheard Prabhakar's side of the conversation from the adjoining room and was in Colombo in September, 1994, as a journalist for Aajkal, a Bengali daily of Calcutta. Says Mitra: "I overheard Prabhakar shouting, 'what do you think you are doing? Can you buy me out in an India-Pakistan match? No amount of lakhs is going to buy me out'. He also said, 'how can a person in your position do this?'."
The cricket teams were then staying at the Lanka Oberoi, till then unrenovated. In subsequent conversations, Mitra revealed: "I don't remember the exact room numbers. But Manoj Prabhakar was rooming with Navjot Singh Sidhu and the adjoining room had Prashant Vaidya and Nayan Mongia. They were L-shaped rooms and had a connecting door. I wasn't staying in the same hotel but used to come frequently to visit Vaidya who was my friend since he played for Bengal. My father was then the cricket coach for Bengal. That day I was sitting with Vaidya and a few others, including a journalist from Ganashakti. Usually when I walked into Vaidya's room I would often peep thro-ugh the adjoining door to see if Sherry (Sidhu) was there because I was a little friendly with him. But he wasn't there. Manoj was alone in the room reading a magazine. I didn't know him that well so I returned to where Prashant was sitting. The incident in question happened after some time when it became obvious that Manoj was talking with someone in his room. When he shouted the above statements all of us became conscious of what was happening. Vaidya rose and closed the adjoining door so we never heard who Prabhakar was talking with."
Incidentally, Prabhakar confirmed to Outlook the sequence of events, specially about him shouting at the concerned India teammate who made him the Rs 25 lakh offer to play badly in the game against Pakistan. Says Prabhakar: "Now, I am glad that there is a corroboration for my story. At least the people who said that I was talking in the air should be silenced."
While the incident took place before the India-Pakistan match, Mitra, at least, didn't realise the implications of what he had heard till much later. "The Chandrachud inquiry was so fraudulent. How many journalists who went on the '94 tour were invited to depose?"
Mitra's father, Kalyan Mitra, interestingly, was also the curator of the pitch at Eden Gardens during the 1996 World Cup and advised Indiancaptain Mohammed Azharuddin repeatedly not to bat second on the pitch when India was playing Sri Lanka in the semi-finals, a decision Azhar took much to everybody's perplexity. He has been coach of the Bengal under-19 team since last year and has been long involved with the Cricket Association of Bengal.
Mitra himself has come back to cricket reporting recently after a sabbatical of two years. On why he had kept silent for so long, he says: "You see I was hoping to come back to cricket reporting. I thought maybe the cricketers won't talk to me if I spoke the truth. Also, the issue became so big that I was a little scared. But now with the new developments it's become a very vital issue. The truth has to come out."
Prashant Vaidya, when contacted by Outlook in Nagpur, corroborated his friendship with Mitra, the fact that he used to visit him often and also the configuration of the two rooms. Says Vaidya: "Yes, Sakyasen would often be in my room and the adjoining door between my room and Prabhakar's would generally be open all the time. I remember Sidhu coming in often and both of us talking about the rain. Prabhakar would often be having arguments over the phone and if Sakya says I closed the door I might have done it thinking that Manoj was having one of his phone conversations. I don't recall the incident though. The 1994 tour has become illustrious now for many other reasons. I was a newcomer then. All I remember is being 12th man in all the games and carrying water to the pitch."
Of course, Chandrachud failed to unearth any of this in his inquiry.
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