IPL’s suspended commissioner, Lalit Modi is in more trouble now as the Indian cricket board has sent him a third notice. This notice consists of Modi to explain why he undersold the IPL contract to broadcast the tournament in the movie halls and questions the need to sell the mid-over advertisements without the permission of the BCCI. Modi has already replied to the first notice, and is expected to reply to both, the second and the third notice on the same day.
The second notice that Modi received was after the BCCI got an email from the ECB which alleged that some of the aspects taken up Modi were “detrimental to Indian cricket, English cricket and world cricket at large.”
The third notice that was sent to Modi stems from the issues related to Rs 330-crore deal that Modi signed for the IPL with Entertainment & Sports Direct (ESD). This was for the global movie-hall rights for ten editions of the IPL from 2010, after thwarting competition from Triplecom Media. According to the board, the deal was rather below the going price.
The cricket board has also demanded the chief to explain the mid-over ads that were signed up by Modi, after the ad-spots had already been sold to the Multi-Screen Media (MSM) for about 2600 seconds per game. Modi had then gone on to allow a further 150 seconds by showing ads when the ball was not in play between the deliveries in an over.
According to a board official, “The board is unhappy that he did not even inform the governing council and worse it is the board that owns this 150-second slot and the money has not come in,”
Modi, in reply, has sent a defamation notice to Giles Clarke, who is the chief of the ECB, which allow the chairman, seven days to provide a “full and unconditional apology and retraction in a form, manner and terms to be agreed”. This is because Modi has said that the charges were totally false. This was regarding the creation of a parallel cricket league in England, which, according to Modi would ensure that the players would have to choose the clubs over country.
