During a recent cricket podcast involving former IPL chairman Lalit Modi and ex-Australia captain Michael Clarke, the previously unseen video clip showing Harbhajan striking Sreesanth with a backhanded slap following an 2008 IPL clash between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) was released. After the video release, Sreesanth's wife Bhuvneshwari criticised Lalit Modi. She wrote in a social media post: “Shame on you @lalitkmodi and @michaelclarkeofficial. You people are not even human to drag up something from 2008 just for your own cheap publicity and views. Both @sreesanthnair36 and Harbhajan have long moved on in life and are fathers now with school-going children, and yet you try to throw them back into an old wound. Absolutely disgusting, heartless, and inhuman.”
Now, former India star Farokh Engineer, who was the match referee in the game, has broken his silence on the video release.
"I'm surprised that the footage has emerged after all these years. As match referee for that particular match, I maintained confidentiality throughout and didn't speak about the contents of the incident even to the best of my friends in the media,” Engineer told Mid-day.
“I had a job to do as match referee and I believe I did it [well] with dignified silence. It's a thing of the past and I'm sure both players have long buried their differences. Like many other things in cricket, it was done in the heat of the moment. Harbhajan is a good friend. We move on.”
Meanwhile, Lalit Modi has responded to criticism from S. Sreesanth's wife, Bhuvneshwari, after she slammed him.
"I don't know why she (Sreesanth's wife Bhuvneshwari) is getting angry. I was asked a question, and I shared the truth. I can't do anything about that. I am known to speak the truth. Sree was the victim, and that's exactly what I said. No one had asked me this question earlier, so when Clarke quipped, I responded,” Lalit Modi told IANS.