I made a mistake, forgive me: Danish Kaneria
Karachi, Oct 18: Banned Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria Thursday said he finally confessed to spot-fixing after years of denial to get closure for the mistakes he made but the country's cricket community reacted with shock to his admission.
"I just want the cricket board, my fans and the Pakistani people to understand my situation and forgive me. I made a grave mistake in associating with a bookmaker(Anu Bhatt) and not reporting it to the concerned authorities and I have paid the price for it," Kaneria told PTI.
But Pakistan's cricket community was left "shocked and betrayed".
"I am gutted because in the early days when Danish's case came up. I met with the Pakistan Cricket Board officials with his case documents to convince them that he (Kaneria) should be heard by the PCB. I believed he was innocent," Pakistan's former Test captain Rashid Latif said.
Latif said Kaneria's confession in an interview to Al Jazeera channel was a big let-down for the Pakistan cricket community. Kaneria is serving a life ban since 2012 for indulging in spot-fixing in English county matches. The ban was imposed on him by the English Cricket Board.
"...you can't help feel being betrayed by him," Latif said.
Former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said Kaneria's confession was a big blow to the image of Pakistan cricket.
"God knows what these players think about. We get publicity for all the wrong reasons, spot-fixing and doping cases. I am really sad today to hear about Kaneria's confession after he lied to all of us for six years," Qadir said.
Former Test opener, chief selector and national team coach Mohsin Khan said he felt let down but was also sympathetic.
"But I also think Kaneria has done the right thing now even after six years. I think his conscience was bothering him. He is already serving a life ban since 2012.
"Perhaps the authorities can talk to him and try to reduce his ban because worst has happened in Pakistan cricket," he said.
After denying for six years, Kaneria dropped a bombshell this week when he told Al-Jazeera network that he his relationship with Anu Bhatt led to illegal acts during the English county matches in 2009/2010.
The ECB banned the leg-spinner for life and also sent his Essex teammate, Mervyn Westfield to jail for his involvement in the matter.
Mohsin said he had known Kaneria since he started playing junior cricket.
I just think there is a need to make anti-corruption laws more tough and through legislation all cricket boards should make it a criminal offence to fix matches or moments in matches," Khan said.
Kaneria also played his last Test on the tour of England in 2010 after which the PCB withdrew him from the squad after it was reported the English Cricket Board was investigating the leg-spinner for fixing in county matches.
It was on the 2010 tour of England, that Pakistan's then captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir were also found involved in spot-fixing and later banned for five-years each.
The trio completed there bans in 2016 and are back playing cricket. While Aamir has made a comeback to the Pakistan team, Butt and Asif are playing regular domestic cricket.
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Mumbai family deaths: FDA finds no watermelon vendor in area to check for affected stock
Mumbai (PTI): The Food and Drug Administration team probing the cause of death of four members of a family in south Mumbai's JJ Marg area have not been able to zero in on any watermelon vendor in the vicinity to check if the fruit had a role to play in the ill-fated incident, an official said on Thursday.
The Dokadia family, residents of Ghari Mohalla on Ismail Kurte Road, had hosted a get-together of relatives on the night of April 25. At around 1 am, hours after the guests had left, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zaineb (13) ate pieces of a watermelon.
They suffered severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea in the early hours of April 26 and were rushed to a local hospital before being referred to the government-run J J Hospital where all four died during treatment.
"The FDA team visited the house of Dokadia and collected samples of chicken pulao and watermelon pieces. After two days, the leftover chicken pulao had developed fungus growth. The team also tried to locate watermelon vendors to check for any affected lots," he said.
But no vendors were found in the area for the past two days, preventing the FDA team from getting samples, the official added.
The FDA has requested the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to share the report on the food samples collected by them, he added.
A senior Mumbai police official said the force is waiting for FSL reports in the case, adding that questions on presence of sedatives etc in the fruit could be answered only then.
The statements of the kin of the deceased are being recorded to ascertain if it is a case of mass suicide, and it is being checked if the Dokadia family were in debt or distressed over some issue, the police official said.
