The potential match-fixing scandal involving Marlon Samuels took a new turn on Friday with a fresh disclosure that the West Indies all-rounder used an Indian mobile phone to talk to alleged bookie Mukesh Kochar during his stay in Nagpur for the January 21 one-day international.
Police sources revealed that the mobile phone that Samuels used was registered in the name of Vasu Gangwani, the liaison officer for the team during its visit to India.
According to police sources, Samuels had procured a pre-paid SIM card (no - 9970137717), belonging to a private cell phone operator company, and used it extensively with talk-time valuing up to Rs 6,000.
The latest development comes barely a day after the Nagpur police handed the taped conversations between Samuels and alleged bookie Kochar to the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit officials investigating the case.
Samuels, who had been picked in the West Indies World Cup squad, found himself at the centre of a major controversy after police made public a taped conversation with Kochar in which he disclosed information about team composition.
A two-member team of the ACU returned from Nagpur on Thursday after receiving the taped conversations between Samuels and Kochar.
The police had earlier claimed that Samuels talked to Kochar through the landline telephone of Hotel Pride, where the West Indies team was put up during its stay in Nagpur.
Gangwani had helped Samuels in getting the number with the help of his documents, sources confirmed.
Incidentally, initially when the news of Nagpur police being in possession of taped conversations between Kochar and Samuels first surfaced, the police claimed to have recorded the conversation between the two
The tape, transcript and other documents were handed over to the ICC by the local police.
The ICC ACU team, comprising Alan Peacock, senior investigator and Niranjan Singh Virk, were in Nagpur to collect these from the local police.
According to police sources, the Union Home Ministry had cleared handing over of the material and proof to the ICC team, following which the police submitted the same to Peacock and Virk. The police also submitted mobile call details to the ICC team, sources added.
However, the latest disclosure about Samuels using a mobile phone could add to the ongoing raging controversy about match-fixing. However, sources expressed surprise at the fact that of all the West Indies players, only Samuels had asked for a mobile phone.
Senior police officials have declined to comment on the issue, saying that they have already handed over all the information to ICC and they have nothing more to say.
