BCCI panel sets deadline in Modi case

The BCCI’s disciplinary committee, probing the alleged wrongdoings by suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, has set itself a deadline of September 28 to finish the proceedings, reports Subhash Rajta.

The BCCI’s disciplinary committee, probing the alleged wrongdoings by suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, has set itself a deadline of September 28 to finish the proceedings.

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In a meeting held here on Sunday, the committee decided to hold two rounds of back-to-back meetings, first on September 13, 14 and 15, and then on September 26, 27 and 28, to reach a conclusion.

“Apart from the schedule, the procedures for the probe too were decided in the meeting today,” said Mehmood Abdi, Modi’s lawyer. Interestingly, the meetings between the disciplinary committee and Modi’s representative so far have only deliberated on Modi’s demand for the recusal of Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin from the disciplinary committee, which BCCI eventually shot down.

“The actual proceedings will start now. It’s for the BCCI to prove their case and then we will see which of the documents and witnesses produced by them needs to be cross-examined by us,” said Abdi.

Given how things have panned out, the probe is going to be a stormy affair. As it is, Modi’s legal team is not happy with the BCCI’s refusal to recuse Jaitley and Amin from the committee, and Board president, Shashank Manohar’s, latest tirade against Modi, in which he has called the latter a liar, has further enraged the Modi camp.

Manohar’s threat to press criminal charges against Modi, too evoked a sharp response. “If that’s what the BCCI wants to do even as the proceedings of the disciplinary committee are on, then why hold these meetings at all. Doesn’t that erode the relevance of the current proceedings?” he asked.

Given the mood of the rival camps, it’s clear that the battle will eventually be fought in the court of law.