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Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 23, 2007
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Pakistan team questioned

Media reports say Woolmer was strangled; his wife says it is possible

— PHOTO: AFP

TEAM GLOOM: Pakistan cricket team members are a picture of sorrow at a memorial service in Kingston, Jamaica, on Thursday for their coach Bob Woolmer, who died mysteriously.

KINGSTON (Jamaica): Every Pakistan team member at the Cricket World Cup is being interviewed by the Jamaican police on Thursday as part of the investigation into the death of coach Bob Woolmer. A report said the players' fingerprints were being taken.

``The interviews are taking up to an hour for each player,'' Pakistan team manager Talat Ali told Reuters.

The police asked the Pakistani players, ``When did you last see Bob, what were his last movements, what happened after the game [with Ireland] ... Did he order anything in his room?" Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Mir said.

Mr. Ali said the Pakistan team management was frustrated at the lack of police information given to it during the past 48 hours.

Jamaica's Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields said investigators had called in an American pathologist to help determine what killed Mr. Woolmer.

The former England batsman Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on Sunday, less than 24 hours after Pakistan's shock World Cup defeat by Ireland which knocked it out of the tournament. He was pronounced dead in hospital later.

Newspapers' claim

The questioning of the team members comes even as two Jamaican newspapers claimed that Mr. Woolmer had been strangled.

That alleged cause of death follows rumours of poisoning and even killing at the hands of members of the criminal underworld keen on avoiding exposure in allegations of match fixing, which may have arisen in a book that Mr. Woolmer was planning to write. The Jamaica Gleaner said a ``high-ranking police officer'' confirmed that fresh evidence had surfaced suggesting that Mr. Woolmer was strangled in his room.

He said Mr. Woolmer was found half naked, partially wrapped in a towel. ``A bone in the neck, near the glands, was broken, and this suggests that somebody might have put some pressure on it ... we are now treating this as homicide.''

The Jamaica Observer also quoted unnamed sources close to the investigation as saying that bones in the lower part of Mr. Woolmer's face were broken, suggesting he had been strangled.

Meanwhile, Mr. Woolmer's wife Gill admitted that there was a ``possibility'' that her husband was murdered.

In an interview with Britain's Sky News television from her home in South Africa, she said: ``I suppose there is always the possibility,'' apparently contradicting statements she made to Indian television in which she dismissed the possibility of a conspiracy or a match-fixing link. ``I mean some of the cricketing fraternity, fans are extremely volatile and passionate about the game and what happens in the game, and also a lot of it in Asia, so I suppose there is always the possibility that it could be that.'' — Agencies

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