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London-based Mohammed Bhai, who has been named as the man behind Mohammed Shami’s match-fixing allegations, has come out in open denying the allegations.
He said he never knew the Pakistani girl ‘Alishba’ named by Shami’s estranged wife Jahan as the conduit in Dubai who gave the money to Mohammad Shafi. He said he will join the investigation by the agencies.
A BCCI team is investigating the allegations made earlier by Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan blaming the pacer of fixing matches and receiving cash from a "Pakistani girl" named Alishba, while Mohammed Bhai was the middle man. Alishba in Dubai surfaced to deny meeting Mohammed Bhai, though she said she met Shami in Dubai.
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already put Shami’s annual retainership contract on hold pending the probe.
Soon after Alishba’s version, Mohammad Bhai in London too surfaced to tell the media that the allegations made by Jahan were baseless. "Neither have I done anything wrong, nor am I associated with such things. I never talked of match-fixing or offered money to anyone. I was born in India and won’t ever let my country down," he told ABP News.
He said he is hearing the name Alishba for the first time and denied he ever met her. "I am open to any probe by the BCCI or anti-corruption agencies. Even if I have to go through a lie-detector or narco test, I am up for it. I will cooperate with the agencies," he said.
Mohammed Bhai, who was born in Surat, has been living in the United Kingdom for over two decades and he said he was running a mobile phones business, which he described as "small business".
"I had met Shami and Hasin when the cricketer was on England tour for matches. Hasin used to call me ‘bhaiya’ and I respect her because she is like a sister to me. Whenever they wanted to go for a meal or shopping, I used to take them out," he said. "We used to eat and travel together," he said.
"I earn money through lawful and legitimate ways. I am not any influential person but a commoner, who lives with his family happily in a small house," he added.
Four officials of the ACU on Saturday spoke to beleaguered pacer Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan over allegations that the player was involved in match-fixing. It was learnt that Jahan has handed over some documents supporting her allegations that Shami met a woman in Dubai who was supposed to give him money sent by another person in UK.
In addition, Jahan has levelled domestic violence charges against Shami. She has also released an alleged recording of her telephonic conversation with the pacer which had the names of Alishba and Mohammad Bhai.
"The Committee of Administrators is concerned only with such portion of the said audio recording in which the person who it is claimed is Md. Shami is heard saying another person by the name of ‘Mohammad Bhai’ had sent money to Md. Shami through a Pakistani lady by the name of ‘Alisba’," the CoA had said in a letter to Neeraj Kumar, the head of the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit.
ACU has also sought probe covering:
(i) the identity, antecedents of ‘Mohammad Bhai’ and ‘Alisba’;
(ii) whether any money was sent by the said Mohammad Bhai through the said Alisba to Md. Shami; and
(iii) if yes, the purpose for which the said money was received by Md. Shami.
As of now, the saga of Shami and his wife Jahan has kept the pacer’s ball in suspense.
