Final after the final: Modi suspended

The IPL commissioner, Mr Lalit Modi, was suspended minutes after the award presentation ceremony of IPL-3 here past midnight on Sunday.

He was issued a show-cause notice capping two weeks of raging controversy over financial wrongdoings in the hugely popular tournament.

Mr Modi was combative to the last, saying at his speech at the presentation ceremony that the IPL was clean, that all decisions were cleared by the governing council and that he took full responsibility for all the decisions.

“In the last few days, we have had a lot of innuendoes, and half truths and motivated leaks (about IPL). I want to tell you that all decisions have been taken by the Governing Council and approved by the general body,” Mr Modi said at the ceremony.

“I reassure you that if there is any flouting of rules and any irregularities I shall take full responsibility. On this occasion, I assure milllions of passionate fans of the league and the game across the globe that the IPL is clean and transparent.”

Earlier, Mr Modi had decided to take the bull by the horns. Having all along opposed Monday’s emergent meeting of the IPL council — called essentially to terminate his tenure as its chairman — Mr Modi, in a dramatic turnaround, said he would chair the meeting scheduled to be held here at 10 am on Monday.

On Sunday, the top brass of the BCCI met to finalise their approach for the meeting. According to sources, Mr Srinivasan shared a 16-page-long “chargesheet” with president Shahshank Manohar, IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah and chief administrative officer Prof. Ratnakar Shetty that lists in great detail all the allegations against Mr Modi.

“Mr Srinivasan has ensured that no important matter escapes the IPL meeting. He’s listed every contentious decision taken by Modi in pointwise manner in his report. That doesn’t give him (Modi) much room to manevoure if he shows up tomorrow,” a board official told this newspaper.

When Mr Srinivasan first circulated a notice for the meeting, Mr Modi called it illegal, saying as chairman only he had the powers to do so and dared the council to go ahead.

A meeting on Saturday between Mr Pawar and Mr Vijay Mallya, chairman of United Breweries and owner of Royal Challenger Bangalore, assumed significance in the face of the Modi-BCCI standoff though they denied it had anything to do with the IPL.