COLOMBO/DUBAI, 17 September 2005 — Sri Lanka off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has denied having close links with a Bombay bar dancer being investigated by Indian police as part of a match-fixing probe.
An Indian police team is in Dubai investigating alleged links between the millionaire dancer and cricket bookies said to be tied with crime syndicates as well as Sri Lankan cricketers. The team from the Economic Offenses Wing of Bombay police will be meeting International Cricket Council (ICC) officials in Dubai, sources said. Helping the investigations are the Indian diplomatic mission in Dubai.
Under investigation is Tarannum Khan, also known as Tannu, 24, who used to dance in a bar in Bombay until the Maharashtra government closed down all dance bars in the state in mid-August. The income tax department raided her luxury villa in Bombay late last month and found over 3 million rupees in cash and jewelry. A bank locker in her name yielded 500,000 rupees in cash and jewelry and documents showing that she owned real estate worth an unspecified amount.
Clues to her alleged links with cricket bookies and Sri Lankan cricket players were said to have come from her mobile phone, which also had several Dubai numbers which prompted Bombay police to send the team to the emirate.
Muralitharan, the second highest wicket taker in Test history, released a public statement yesterday in Colombo after being associated by media reports with a major match-fixing scandal that has erupted in India.
Newspaper and television reports claimed he had visited a dancing nightclub called Deepa Bar in Bombay several times in recent years where he was introduced to a dancer called Tarannum.
“These media reports have insinuated my possible involvement in a gambling and match-fixing controversy with which I have no connection,” Muralitharan said in a statement. “These allegations are shocking and totally baseless. I have traveled to Bombay on a few occasions in recent years for official award ceremonies and to attend to family business matters.
“On one occasion, I met actor Aditya Pancholi who invited me to dinner. Afterward, we visited Deepa Bar for approximately one hour before I returned to my hotel. Contrary to media speculation, I have never been introduced to and nor do I have any links whatsoever with a woman called Tarannum Khan.
“In addition, this was also the only occasion in my life that I visited this particular bar. Reports appearing in recent media reports of my close alliance with this bar or the dancer are therefore total fabrications. “I have been associated with a match-fixing controversy on the basis that I innocently patronized a bar a few years ago, which I believe is grossly unfair.”
Muralitharan met his legal advisers on Thursday and has urged them to investigate the possibility of taking legal action. “Representing Sri Lanka as a cricketer is a truly great honor and a source of immense personal pride,” he said. “I have always strived to perform to the very best of my ability and have maintained at all times while doing so the highest ethics of the game. It is thus deeply upsetting for my family and I that such wild allegations are now being made. The Sri Lankan cricket board, which distributed Muralitharan’s release, have so far refused to comment on the issue but are expected to send out their own media release later.
