No 'match fixing' as Samuels' intentions can't be proved: Police

New Delhi, Feb 8 (UNI) A day after it stirred a hornet's nest establishing a nexus between West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels and bookie Mukesh Kochchar, the Nagpur police refused to call it a ''match fixing'' incident, stating that the player's intentions could not be proved.

The police sensationally revealed yesterday that Samuels had spoken to a New Delhi-based bookie before the West Indies-India ODI match last month.

Speaking to newspersons in Nagpur, Police Commissioner S P S Yadav said Samuels passed on information about the possible composition of the team on the January 21 tie, the bowling line-up and the batting order, but there was no mention of any match-fixing per se or exchange of money.

''We cannot say how the information that Samuels passed on to Kochchar could have influenced the outcome of the match,'' he said.

There has been no offence registered against Samuels since he had only violated the ICC code of conduct and not any law of the land, Mr Yadav said.

''We did not register an offence because we could not make out a specific case in this instance. Besides, there is a legal problem in prosecuting someone for 'match fixing' because the intentions of a player cannot be proved,'' he said.

He also said barring Samuels, no other player from either team violated the International Cricket Council (ICC) code of conduct while in the city.

Meanwhile, Marlon Samuels' mother pleaded her son's innocence even though she admitted the player and Kochchar were friends for almost six years.

The Nagpur police, meanwhile, had written to the ICC and the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) yesterday after closing the investigations, but had not given them the transcripts of the conversation between Samuels and Kochchar.

BCCI, on its part, was quick to wash off its hands from the Nagpur ODI match fixing controversy, saying that it was for the ICC to take necessary action on the issue.

Throwing the ball into the ICC court, BCCI president Sharad Pawar said the Board has forwarded the Nagpur police's report and the onus was now on the cricket's apex body to take further action.

''This is not a matter of the board. We have sent the report to the ICC headquarters in Dubai,'' said Mr Pawar, who was in Kolkata to attend the India-Sri Lanka ODI.

Elsewhere police came down hard on bookies arresting six of them in Lonavala. Similar raids were being conducted in Mumbai and Thane also.

UNI