Indian bookies linked to Woolmer's murder: Report

LONDON: Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer had told his players that he had thrown out a Mumbai-based bookie from his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica, after a 'blazing argument' on March 17, a day before he was murdered there.

'Guardian' newspaper on Monday reported that police said two unnamed Pakistani players had told them during interrogation that Woolmer, who died a day after Pakistan shockingly crashed out of the World Cup in the West Indies, had narrated to them the incident.

"A senior government official told 'Guardian' that two Pakistan players told Jamaican police that Woolmer had a blazing argument with a bookmaker based in Mumbai on Saturday night.

'Bob Woolmer said he had just thrown a bookie out of his room. He didn't give any reasons,' the official said," the newspaper wrote.

However, Mark Shields, a former Scotland Yard superintendent and now No. 2 in the Jamaican police force, was unaware of any bookmakers having stayed at the Pegasus hotel, or any suggestions of involvement of an Indian bookie.

Indian cricket officials also dismissed the allegations as 'speculation and stories', said the paper.

The investigating agencies have not ruled out anyone for the crime and, according to one police official, they are doing their job with an 'open mind'.

The Jamaica police and the anti-corruption unit of the International Cricket Council (ICC) are investigating, amongst other angles, the role of those involved in betting and match-fixing in the murder of the 58-year-old former England player.

The agencies are now trying to decode the footage from the hotel CCTV cameras, after having questioned the entire Pakistani squad. The team has since left the West Indies for London en route to Pakistan, except for two administrative officials who have been asked to stay back.

Pakistan lost to the West Indies and then shockingly to minnows Ireland on March 17 to crash out of the World Cup, raising the ghost of match-fixing.

"The Pakistan government on Sunday floated to 'Guardian' the idea that Indian betting syndicates were involved in the murder, citing what two Pakistan players told Jamaican police when questioned on Thursday," wrote the paper.

"A senior official said three bookies had checked into the Pegasus hotel before the start of the World Cup. But this theory was denied by Indian cricket officials, and treated skeptically by senior Jamaican detectives."

A chambermaid found Woolmer unconscious in his room, No. 374, on the 12th floor of Pegasus hotel in Kingston on the morning of March 18. He was declared dead when he was taken to a local hospital.

The investigating agencies are now trying to find if the murderer or murderers, have been captured by the CCTV cameras, fixed near the elevators and the service entry staircase on the other end of the 12th floor.

They are also questioning various other people, including the West Indies captain Brian Lara, Ireland captain Trent Johnson, Pakistan fitness trainer Murray Stevenson, another Pakistan support staff Darren Lifson and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who stayed on the same 12th floor, according to Guardian.

"Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, was also on the 12th floor until shortly before Woolmer's murder, when he moved to the fifth floor. He was questioned by police on Saturday about why he had changed rooms and told them he had wanted to be closer to the other players," the newspaper said.

"Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, has been questioned and all members of the West Indies and Ireland teams will be asked to volunteer a statement, fingerprints and a DNA swab."

The Pakistan team had been swabbed for DNA before they left.

The newspaper said that Pakistan has asked to 'send a detective to Jamaica to investigate' what it claims were links between an Indian bookmaker and the murder.

Two Pakistani diplomats from Washington are now in Kingston to act as liaison between the government and the police.

Though Shields stressed that no member of the Pakistan team was under suspicion, he said he was in discussion with the Pakistani diplomats about what would happen were he to want any individuals to return to Jamaica.