After a prepared opening statement in which he spoke about Modi’s “individual misdemeanours” as Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman, Manohar admitted reluctantly that too much power had been vested in Modi, and announced the appointment of BCCI vice-president Chirayu Amin as the interim chairman.
The board president outlined the charges against Modi in the show cause notice, reiterating that he had used his authority vested in him under Rule 32 of the BCCI Rules and Regulations to place Modi under suspension.
The Board president appeared cool at a crowded, noisy and occasionally heated prolonged media conference at the BCCI headquarters here on Monday afternoon, shortly after the emergent Governing Council (GC) meeting ended with, expectedly, few fireworks.
“You can speculate on the number of charges against him,” Manohar said in reference to reports that 22 charges have been framed against Modi, and outlined the five specific allegations contained in the chargesheet.
“The fact is that the charges basically are with regards to the initial bids of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. The second allegation is in regards to the broadcasting deal. The third allegation is with regards to the bid rigging of the two new franchisees. The fourth allegation is with regards to the internet rights. The fifth is with regards to the behavioural pattern of Mr Modi,” the BCCI president said.
Explaining why the suspension letter and show cause notice were slapped against on Modi once the IPL final ended, Manohar said: “IPL is a great property and is loved by all across the globe”.
Manohar’s rationale was that the “commercial aspect of such an event is an important thing. However, ethics and transparency are more important. But for the last 15 days, there were lot of allegations and counter-allegations made through the media as a result of which the Board looked into the allegations levelled and took a decision to issue a show cause notice to Lalit Modi, pending an inquiry, decided to suspend him.”
Manohar said: “The show cause notice was sent only after the presentation ceremony was over and, thereafter, Modi was suspended”, adding that “after receiving a reply from Mr Modi (within 15 days of the receipt of the charge sheet), the Board will hold an inquiry into the matter if necessary. Or, if the reply of Mr Modi convinces the members, the proceedings will be dropped.”
He added: “In the meeting, the chargesheet was discussed as also the committee unanimously appointed Chirayu Amin as the interim chairman of the committee (IPL). We’ve also asked Prof Ratnakar Shetty (the board’s chief administrative officer) to look into all the records because many of the documents are missing from the office of the IPL and the board.
“Everyday, the Income Tax department is asking for the documents but we don’t have them in our custody. Therefore, we have asked Prof Shetty to look into all these aspects of documents.”
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