BCCI disciplinary panel asks Modi to appear

The BCCI's three-member disciplinary committee has sent a letter to Lalit Modi asking him to appear before it on July 16 to defend himself against the charges made by the board. Modi's demand to remove interim IPL chairman Chirayu Amin from the committee will also be considered at the hearing.

"You are requested to be present in person to address the disciplinary committee on the said issues after which the disciplinary committee/its members shall decide the issues raised," the letter said.

However, Modi's lawyer Mehmood Abdi would not commit to his client's presence at the meeting as the Bombay High Court is due to hear Modi's petition asking it to quash the BCCI's proceedings against him on July 14. "Many things can come to pass between now and July 16," Abdi told Cricinfo.

The BCCI voted to ratify the charges against Modi and refer the case to its disciplinary committee at a special general body meeting held in Mumbai last week. At the same meeting, Jyotiraditya Scindia was added to the three-member disciplinary panel to replace BCCI president Shashank Manohar, who had recused himself from the case. Modi had accused Manohar and board secretary N Srinivasan of harbouring personal grudges against him and insisted neither of them should be involved in deciding his case. The third member of the committee is board vice-president Arun Jaitley.

Following the decision, Modi's lawyers sent a legal notice to the BCCI, claiming that Amin may have a grudge against their client, and should therefore be replaced on the panel, as Modi was the person who disclosed publicly that Amin was part of a consortium led by Pune-based construction company City Corporation that made an unsuccessful bid for the two new franchises this year. Modi has also asked the court to appoint an independent person or panel to judge his case.