The month-long public spat between the cricket control board’s top brass and suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi is expected to reach its conclusion on Saturday, when the latter finally replies to the charges slapped on him in BCCI’s show cause notice.
After forcing the board to concede that he need not reply to unsubstantiated allegations, media reports and “privileged and confidential” information, the embattled administrator’s defence has received a substantial boost.
He is now essentially left to answer the complaints about Nimbus, the holders of the board’s broadcast rights, questions relating to the Kochi franchise and his alleged stakeholding in three IPL teams, the last two being the board’s key charges.
The BCCI, however feels, its documents would be enough to nail him. “We have more than enough evidence. He’s a crook and he has left his fingerprints on all documents that he laid his hands on in the last two years. There is no chance he’ll escape,” board secretary N. Srinivasan told this newspaper on Friday.
The board is banking heavily on statements from Kochi franchise officials, who are on record that Modi had tried to discourage them from bidding saying that “a consortium of too many people would not be able to manage the show.”
According to a BCCI official, Modi had rigged bids to make conditions favourable for certain parties, not just this year, but also in 2008.
“We have a copy of register of members of the Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd, which we have supplied to Modi. Let’s see what how he defends that.”
All this is apart from the financial aspect. Just hours after the savvy administrator was kicked out as IPL commissioner, board president Shashank Manohar had questioned why Modi had not revealed his and his relatives’ “silent stakes” in at least three IPL teams.
The board later admitted that it had formed a part of that charge based on media reports, but Modi will still have to prove that he has indeed no financial involvement in any team.
Modi’s Twitter feed, meanwhile, has been less active in recent weeks, with only occasional tweets linking to supportive articles, or notes saying he’s “busy preparing reply so not had time to tweet.”
However, reports suggest that his legal team is assembling a “counter chargesheet” that he will use to strike back at the IPL governing council members after replying to the board’s notice.
Modi, it is understood, will try to prove that a couple of GC members are, in fact, guilty of what they are accusing him of.
Srinivasan, one of the GC members, said he was prepared to disprove any charges.
“I’m the prosecutor in this case, he’s the guilty one. But If he wants to play it that way, I have no problem. I’m ready to disprove all charges Modi will cook up.”
Notwithstanding the developments on Saturday, a final decision on Modi, guilty or otherwise, isn’t likely on the same day.
The board is expected to announce the verdict only in June when a separate disciplinary committee is convened.