BCCI to use only documentary proofs against Modi

Lalit Modi's defence against BCCI's show cause notice got a boost on Thursday with the cricket board assuring the suspended IPL Commissioner that only documentary proofs provided on charges levelled against him would be used in the proceedings.

"BCCI is in receipt of your e-mail of 12th May, 2010. Your attention is drawn to Clause 32 (iv) of the Memorandum and the Rules and Regulations of the BCCI. Under the said Rules, the Secretary, in consultation with the BCCI President, will issue a notice for the alleged misconduct.

"Such a notice has been issued to you. The BCCI is awaiting your reply on or before 15th May, 2010," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan has communicated to Modi in an e-mail.

"The notice is issued on basis of the material set out in the notice and the documents which have been supplied to you. If your reply is found unsatisfactory, the matter is then referred to the Disciplinary Committee who shall, after giving you a further opportunity, decide the whole issue," the e-mail said.

"All facts and documents, on which the notice has been issued, have been supplied to you. You may send your reply on the basis of the facts and documents which have been referred to," he further said in the e-mail, a copy of which is available with PTI.

"If an inquiry by the Disciplinary Committee is considered necessary and any further documents/materials, if any, are relied upon, or become available to the inquiry, the same shall also be supplied to you," the BCCI secretary concluded.

Modi, in his e-mailed reply, has thanked Srinivasan "for confirming that the material already sent is the only material that you will be relying against me and that you don't rely on any further documents or materials as far as show cause notice is concerned."

Modi's legal advisor Mehmood S Abdi said that the materials supplied to the suspended commissioner on May 11 were of "routine nature".

"The process of filing Mr Modi's reply to the show cause notice is on," he declared.

BCCI extended the deadline to file the reply by five days on the suspended IPL chief's request and the new deadline is May 15.

In an earlier e-mail sent on Thursday, Modi had questioned the authenticity of the sources used by the BCCI to press charges against him and said the board's reluctance to reveal the identity of the alleged source is illegal and unjustified.