INDIAN police investigating cricket's match-fixing scandal claim to have linked key mobile phone numbers to Padiham professional Ajay Sharma.

The former Indian international is alleged to have used the phones to contact bookies.

And the agency investigating the scandal, the CBI, are now expected to trace the numbers which were called from these cellphones.

CBI officers hope to unearth fresh leads once they hear the tapes of the conversations that Sharma is under suspicion of being involved in.

The name of the Padiham pro has figured strongly during the examination of bookies in Mumbai and possible links with Mohammed Azharuddin.

Sharma is expected to face further examination when he returns to India at the end of the Jennings Ribblesdale League season.

Meanwhile, in a related development, former test cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu has been summoned again by the agency.

Sidhu had denied the allegation made by former Lowerhouse pro Manoj Prabhakar that Kapil Dev had offered him a bribe of £4,000 to play below his potential during a match against Pakistan in 1994 -- an allegation strongly denied by Dev.

When contacted over phone, Sidhu had told PTI from Patiala that he would soon be appearing before the CBI and record his statement.

His re-examination was needed after Prabhakar submitted video tapes, secretly shot by him, in which Sidhu had reportedly corroborated Prabhakar's allegation.