Mushtaq gave poisoned champagne bottle to Woolmer: TV report

Lahore/New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) Pakistan's World Cup bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed passed two champagne bottles which were allegedly mixed with poison to murdered coach Bob Woolmer, Pakistan and Indian TV channels claimed today.

''There were two bottles given to Mushtaq, but he doesn't drink. So he sent it to Woolmer,'' Pakistan's World Cup media manager Pervez Mir told CNN-IBN.

He, however, said Mushtaq cannot be looked at as a suspect.

''Gifting of champagne doesn't mean anything,'' he said.

''As far as I know Woolmer was not a champagne drinker,'' Mir added.

A Pakistan TV channel quoted Mir as saying that team manager Talat Ali was a witness to Mushtaq's giving of the bottles.

The report said only Ali and Ahmed knew the identity of the person who handed the bottles and that one bottle was empty and the other was full.

Woolmer was found unconscious at Pegasus hotel in Jamaica a day after Pakistan's shock defeat to Ireland in the preliminary stage of the World Cup and was later declared dead at a local hoispital.

Jamaica police later said he was murdered and launched an investigation which, however, remained inconclusive till now.

UNI