BCCI rejects Lalit Modi's explanations

New Delhi:

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi s explanations on all charges and sources say Board Secretary N Srinivasan has recommended that the disciplinary committee take further action against him.

NDTV exclusively has a copy of the BCCI s proceedings on Modi s replies. Copies of the six-page document have been sent to all board members.

Modi was served with three show-cause notices and suspended from all positions in the BCCI, including as Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier League, after this year s IPL final.

Through the first notice, he was accused of financial irregularities in the conduct of the league as well as of rigging bids for franchisees. A second show-cause notice, based on an email from England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke, accused him of trying to destroy the structure of world and Indian cricket and the third related to alleged irregularities in the awarding of theatrical rights and commercial slots during the telecast of IPL 3 matches. Modi sent a 15000-page reply to the first and fairly long replies to the other two.

But the BCCI is not accepting his lengthy explanations and says they warrant a more detailed inquiry. There is no explanation, for instance, on why Modi made the shareholding pattern of the new Kochi IPL franchise public, the Board says.

Conversely, it has also said it may take action against the Kochi franchise if Modi s allegations against them are found true.

The BCCI says Lalit Modi inserted clauses during the bidding process for the two new IPL teams that kept away many interested parties. These clauses, it says, were inserted without the knowledge or approval of the board.

Dissatisfied with Modi's reply, the BCCI will also initiate further enquiry into the IPL TV rights deal.

The Board has convened a special general meeting on July 3. All state associations will attend the meeting and there is much speculation that a Modi's removal may be voted upon.

However, giving in to Modi's demand, BCCI President Shashank Manohar has recused himself from the three-man disciplinary committee constituted to conduct a hearing against the suspended IPL commissioner.

"Though I need not recuse myself from the Committee, in order to give a fair opportunity during enquiry to Mr Modi and to remove any doubt of bias from the mind of Mr Modi, I am withdrawing myself as a member of the Disciplinary Committee which is to hold an enquiry with regard to the charges against Mr Modi," Manohar said in his letter to Srinivasan.