IPLgate: Modi won't appear before BCCI today

New Delhi: Suspended IPL chief Lalit Modi, who was expected to respond on Monday to the allegations levelled against him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in their showcause notice to him, has sought more time to build his defense against the allegations. He is likely to respond by May 15. BCCI is expected to respond to his request later today.

In the Capital on Sunday to consult his lawyers for a reply to the first showcause notice issued to him, Modi had said he would personally hand over his response to the accusations on Monday.

"I have just come to wrap up my reply to the showcause that I have to submit on Monday. I am going to reply personally because there is nothing to hide," he had said.

Sources say that Modi's reply will run into 1000 pages in response to the notice which alleges impropriety and misdemeanour on his part among other charges. However, it is the second notice sent by the BCCI, on a complaint by England Cricket Board chief Giles Clarke that Modi seems to be on an even stronger wicket.

An e-mail in possession of CNN-IBN does seem to suggest that it will be hard to indict Modi on the charge of trying to divide world cricket. The mail shows that Modi met the heads of three counties informally in Delhi and it was the counties who were pushing for a high-profile T20 tournament in England.

Meanwhile, Modi handed over all the relevant documents to the BCCI on Sunday, both original as well as notarised copies, including all franchisee agreements, global media rights agreements, global media rights packages, all bid documents, media rights licensee agreements, eligibility letters of all

bidders with details and all sponsorship agreements entered into by the IPL, sources said.

The documents were handed over to the BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Professor Ratnakar Shetty by Modi's lawyer Mehmood M Abdi, sources

added.

All these documents were missing from the BCCI office and Shetty had been entrusted by the IPL governing council at its April 26 emergency meeting to collect them.

Shetty has also acknowledged the receipt of the documents of which one set has been retained by Modi's counsel for his records, sources further said.

Modi was suspended soon after the final of IPL-III by the BCCI which has levelled charges against him alleging, among other things, financial irregularities and bid-rigging in conducting the tournament and his deadline to reply to these charges ends on May 10.