The board seemingly pushed itself into a corner on Tuesday with its admission that some of the charges slapped on suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi were based on “oral submissions”. And it’s feeling the heat of that revelation ahead of the all-important meet on May 15.
Hours after Modi questioned the veracity of the oral evidence in a very public exchange of e-mails with the board, BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan replied saying that only documentary proof would be used in the proceedings.
“BCCI is in receipt of your e-mail of 12th May, 2010. Your attention is drawn to Clause 32 (iv) of the Memorandum and the Rules and Regulations of the BCCI. Under the said Rules, the Secretary, in consultation with the BCCI president, will issue a notice for the alleged misconduct.
“Such a notice has been issued to you. The BCCI is awaiting your reply on or before 15th May,” Srinivasan e-mailed Modi.
“The notice is issued on basis of the material set out in the notice and the documents which have been supplied to you.”
The latest move is being interpreted by Modi camp as a tame climbdown from the BCCI’s earlier “take-no-prisioners” stance. The embattled administrator himself responded within minutes of receiving Srinivasan’s e-mail on Thursday by thanking the board secretary for agreeing not to use any material that has not been given to him.
“Thank you for confirming that the material already sent is the only material that you will be relying against me and that you don’t rely on any further documents or materials as far as show cause notice is concerned,” Modi said in his e-mail.
The board, though, has also added a provision in its e-mail stating that if Modi’s reply was not satisfactory, the matter would be referred to the disciplinary committee, whose decision would be binding. Modi’s counsel Mehmood S. Abdi, however, dismissed the clause in Mumbai on the day, stating it as “routine” information.
What bolsters Modi’s position is that of the four documents BCCI gave him, none deal with alleged silent stakes in atleast three IPl teams and bid-rigging — the board’s key complaints in the chargesheet.
The proof handed over by the BCCI to Modi on May 11 includes a copy of Rajasthan Royals’ shareholding pattern and the audiovisual rights agreement.
The board though isn’t ready to give up just yet.
“We have additional and damning info which we can use, some of which is privleged and confidential. We’ll present it in the meeting if needed,” Srinivasan told this newspaper. “In keeping with the other party’s (Modi’s) reputation of consistently leaking e-mails, we could not afford to put them in public domain right now.”