The father of one of the alleged fixers who claimed to be able to rig parts of the third Ashes Test in Perth as well as Big Bash League games has reportedly said if his son is guilty then "let them hang him".
Baljit Singh Joban, who runs a cricket coaching centre in Delhi, was quoted by the Indian Express on Friday after his son, the former Indian state cricketer Sobers Joban, appeared in a report by British tabloid The Sun as one of two men who made sensational claims about their ability to fix matches and and use players as "puppets" who would follow their "scripts".
"My son used to organise matches in Delhi. Maybe he met someone there, how would I know?" Joban said.
"Now that the ICC is investigating the case, let's wait. If he has done something wrong, let them hang him. I asked him this morning about the incident and he said he had not done anything wrong. He's a grown-up, I can't advise him."
Joban, along with fellow alleged fixer Priyank Saxena, described as a bookmaker and businessman, spoke in a secret video captured by The Sun in Delhi and Dubai of a figure he called The Silent Man who had Australian contacts and worked with current and former internationals. His father said his son was living with him and his playing career had been cut short since being caught up in an eligibility scandal in which players gained access to fake certificates in order to represent Himachal Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, India's domestic first-class competition.
"He was a good player but rarely played after the case," he said. "He has not played for the last four years. At one point, he was so depressed that I feared he would commit suicide. Currently, he stays here with me."
The comments came as it emerged that the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit would conduct interviews in Australia as part of an investigation into spot-fixing claims that is likely to take several weeks. The ICC unit already has an investigator, John Rhodes, who is based in Australia and is present at the WACA, as he usually is at international matches here and in New Zealand.
It is understood he will carry out inquiries here but the ICC has not ruled out sending more personnel to Australia to assist with the probe.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has addressed Steve Smith and his players on the explosive allegations that threatened to overshadow the third Test and declared the organisation would continue to do whatever it took to keep corruption out of the Australian game.
The Australian players appear to have been nonplussed by a report in the London tabloid that was published only hours before the first ball of the Perth Test on Thursday and which, by saying that no England players were involved in a supposed plot to rig parts of the WACA Test, effectively pointed the finger at them.
The ICC's recently installed anti-corruption boss Alex Marshall had moved promptly to allay fears that the third Test had been corrupted in any way, saying there was no evidence based on his reading of material provided to him by The Sun and no indication of contact between the alleged fixers and any players.
However, as he and his team plough through the electronic dossier handed to him by the paper, he insisted the revelations were being taken very seriously.
"We're at the early stages of the investigation. Now we're into a thorough investigation that's likely to take several weeks," Marshall said.
"It doesn't matter where in the world the allegations relate to, if it's about corrupting cricket, we will pursue the people involved and are again grateful to The Sun newspaper for passing on this information.
"This needs to be a very thorough investigation. These are serious allegations???we will use all the proper investigative techniques. We'll want to speak to all the key witnesses in this case.
"They may well be suspects that we need to find and interview. We'll look to secure all the evidence and the material that is available and yes amongst our powers is the ability to demand from participants in cricket that they hand over their mobile phone and we then, if the right authorities are in place, we can download the material from their mobile phone. We would use that power if it was deemed necessary in this investigation."
It is unclear at this point whether any players will be interviewed as part of the ICC investigation.
"I don't know how this might play out from an ICC perspective, but clearly that's up to Alex Marshall and his team to follow up as and when they see fit," Sutherland told ABC Grandstand on Friday.
"I spoke to our players after the game [on Thursday], just so that they understood the nature of the story but also the background as to how I was briefed before play.
"They certainly understand that we're very strong, we all take a zero-tolerance approach to corruption in the game, but also the integrity of the game and the contest and the fans' confidence in the game.
"But also I wanted to make the point to the players that I understand any such allegation also undermines or takes question as to their own personal integrity, and they know and understand how important it is to the game but also to their own personal integrity."
