`I have no links with the underworld and I’ve done no wrong'

`I have no links with the underworld and I’ve done no wrong'
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 23: Former captain of the Indian cricket team Mohammad Azharuddin has denied that he ever indulged in match-fixing or had any links with the underworld.

Rediff.com website quoted him as having said in an interview, Sab Galat Batan hai yeh. Kuchh nahin kiya maine aisa (This is all wrong. I have done nothing of this kind). I do not have any links with underworld.

In an apparent reference to the charge that he had been seen in photographs with members of the underworld, Azhar wondered ‘‘how do I know who I click a picture with every time’’ and added Allah badnami deta hai aur woh hi bachata hai. Tum Dekhna (God wills that you are defamed and then he alone saves your reputation. You wait and see).

Asked if he had made the admission about fixing of matches in interrogation by CBI, Azhar cryptically said, ‘‘they asked and they answered.’’

Azhar, however, had no reply when asked if he had ever met M K Gupta, the alleged bookie whom he reportedly introduced to the disgraced South African skipper Hansie Cronje, according to a press release from the website.

To another question if his lockers were found empty during the CBI operation, he said, ‘‘you have answered the question yourself.’’

Asked why he does not issue a statement to send a message to his fans and well-wishers, Azhar said, ‘‘I have said I will talk at an appropriate time. Not right now. I have nothing to say.’’

On alleged association with Mukesh Gupta, Azhar said ‘‘the income tax people were inquiring about some farm house on the outskirts of the city. I want to know too where I have a farm house. Jo dil me aa raha hain bol rahe hain (they say whatever they want to).’’

On the criticism that as captain of the team he was said to be aloof, Azhar said, ‘‘I always stayed away because I thought the boys would feel uneasy having me around. They are young and want to have fun. Why should I spoil their fun?’’

Asked how he had been spending his time during self-imposed seclusion in the wake of the match-fixing scandal, Azhar said, Kya to bhi likhte baitha hun. Jo dil mein aata hain, likhta hun. (I keep on writing, something ot the other, whatever comes to my mind).’’

His wife Sangeeta Bijlani paints for a good part of the day.

To a reported suggestion by some of his friends that Sangeeta had been the cause of all that had been going wrong in his life, Azhar smiled glancing at Sangeeta and said, ‘‘wonder what would have happened if I had not broken all ties with them (friends). I would have been in deeper trouble.’’