Chennai: Following the Supreme Court dismissal of Lalit Modi's plea of putting a stay on the Special General Meeting of BCCI, the Indian cricket body on Wednesday imposed life ban on former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
The Board took less than half an hour to unanimously impose a life ban on the controversial administratorafter its disciplinary committee found him guilty on eight charges of "indiscipline and misconduct".
"The BCCI, at its Special General Meeting today considered and discussed the report of the Disciplinary Committee of the BCCI on the Show Cause Notices issued to Mr. Lalit Kumar Modi, in accordance with Clause 32 (iv) of the Memorandum of Rules and Regulations," the Board said in a statement.
"...Mr. Lalit Modi is guilty of committing acts of serious misconduct and indiscipline, and therefore, in exercise of powers as per Regulation 32 of the Memorandum and Rules and Regulations of the Board, Mr. Lalit Modi be and is hereby expelled from the BCCI.
"He shall forfeit all his rights and privileges as Administrator. He shall not in future be entitled to hold any position or office, or be admitted in any Committee or any member or associate member of the Board," he added.
Meanwhile breaking his silence on his expulsion from the BCCI and Indian cricket administration, Modi said that he is not the one to run away and will fight back till the end. “I am being targetted by the BCCI as I am not the one to toe their line. I will challenge their ban,” Modi said to Times Now.
"They (BCCI) will have their day and I will have the last call. I am not going anywhere. I will be right here," Modi told 'Times Now' after BCCI imposed a life ban during a Special General Meeting (SGM) in Chennai today.
Modi attacked BCCI's president N Srinivasan accusing BCCI members of protecting the Tamil Nadu strongman. "I think fans are a little disappointed on this match-fixing issue and also the persons involved. It is really sad that they banned the person who created the league but people who are fixing matches and those who are running the Board are being protected by the BCCI members," Modi said.
"The issue is very simple to me. The brand itself is bigger than any one person. But my name is married to IPL. I am the architect of IPL. It was a difficult dream but I realized it.
"I did a few things but I wanted the league to improve. But it's now going in backward direction. Hope BCCI get their act together. I wanted to tighten the rules but at the same time make it transparent," the former IPL czar said from his London residence.
Modi feels that it's imperative that one makes all the owners "responsible for running the game" but at the same time said that "BCCI probably doesn't want to lose control".
However on the issue of financial irregularities, Modi didn't come up with a concrete answer. "I don't know what they are saying. I brought USD 8 billion for BCCI," he claimed. I tried to protect the interest of BCCI and they accuse me of arm-twisting a franchise! After I left two franchises had to quit the league (Deccan Chargers Hyderabad, Kochi Tuskers). BCCI lost USD 700 million. Since I didn't toe their line, I was accused of financial impropriety," Modi said.
Modi also termed Srinivasan as a "Master match-fixer."
"I have moved on and I will soon be associated with a global league. There are a lot of people in sporting fraternity across the world, who want me on board."
