News

Modi in Delhi, consults legal experts

Lalit Modi has made his first public appearance since the IPL final on Sunday, surfacing in Delhi where, it is learnt, he held discussions with two of India's most respected legal brains, Ram Jethmalani and Harish Salve

Cricinfo staff
28-Apr-2010
Modi's brief appearance prompted some angry scenes as he snapped at the media scrum at the airport and the hotel  •  AFP

Modi's brief appearance prompted some angry scenes as he snapped at the media scrum at the airport and the hotel  •  AFP

Lalit Modi has made his first public appearance since the IPL final on Sunday, surfacing in Delhi where, it is learnt, he held discussions with two of India's most respected legal brains, Ram Jethmalani and Harish Salve. The development added to speculation that he would challenge in court the Indian board's decision to suspend him from all BCCI positions, including that of IPL chairman.
Salve, though, refused to divulge any details, citing the client confidentiality. Modi had been incommunicado, barring a few Twitter updates, since Sunday night, when he brought the curtain down on the IPL with a dramatic, emotional speech at the awards ceremony. His tweets, too, have been uncharacteristically low-key, barring a couple that spoke about the IPL's popularity.
However, his brief appearance prompted some angry scenes as he snapped at the media scrum at the airport and the hotel. "Why aren't you letting me reach my car? Why are you blocking me? Can't you be gentlemen?" he asked.
The media was gathered at the Taj Mansingh Hotel in New Delhi, which houses Salve's offices, where Modi spent close to three hours. He then went to the Akbar Road residence of Jethmalani, a member of the upper house of Parliament. Modi spent an hour here before moving to the ITC Maurya Sheraton, hotel where his staying.
His immediate course of action will be to respond to the charge-sheet and show-cause notice filed against him by the BCCI and the IPL governing council, which, after its meeting on Monday, gave Modi 15 days' time to reply. His response will be studied by the board's three-man disciplinary committee - comprising president Shashank Manohar, Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin, the interim IPL chairman - and its findings will be tabled before the BCCI's working committee.
Modi essentially needs to react to the five charges pressed against him - and detailed on Monday by Manohar - after what the board felt were serious allegations of wrongdoing by Modi and his team. The charges are the initial franchise bids for Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the rigging of franchise bids in 2010, the sale of broadcasting and internet rights and his "behavioral pattern".