Chargesheet is not speculation, it's fiction - Modi

Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL chairman, has dismissed the allegations of his masterminding a parallel IPL league as "fiction" and said he will respond on Monday to the first show-cause notice issued to him by the BCCI.

On Thursday, the BCCI had issued a second notice to Modi, prompted by an e-mail from the ECB that contained the allegation that Modi, along with several heads of English counties, had met on March 31 to work on a parallel IPL league, a plan that could threaten the current structure of world cricket.

"The truth will come out, we all know what the truth is," Modi told the TV channel Times Now on Friday. "We all know who had batted for Indian cricket and from when. I'm the one who's battled for Indian cricket, it's all in the public domain."

Asked whether the March 31 meeting had taken place, Modi said: "What's in the show cause notice is not speculation, it's fiction. That's a matter of detail and we'll get into that. People are trying to malign me, across countries now."

When asked for a comment on the fact that the county chiefs had, following the show-cause notice, denied there was any plan for a parallel league, Modi said: "Everything will speak for itself, these are things you can't hide. If somebody jumps the gun and does something, well, I can't do anything about that."

There have also been reports of Arab and American leagues and, when asked about this, Modi's response was curious. "I have been an advocate of unauthorised cricket from day one. I have championed the cause of unauthorised cricket for the BCCI and at the ICC for a long time and everybody knows that. I actually was involved in putting this whole program together in regard to unauthorised cricket. Many people have tried, we have shown ways and means of how it's not viable and why they shouldn't be doing it. I have always been a custodian of the BCCI and trying to protect its rights and I will continue to do that."

Modi's explanation was surprising given the general understanding, till now, that he had been a prime mover behind the BCCI's antagonistic stand on the unauthorised Indian Cricket League, whose creation in 2007 - without official sanction - sparked the IPL. The ICL has since been defunct, with many of its players now back in the official fold.