Srinivasan irked by Modi's 'leaks' to media

Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary N Srinivasan was mum on whether he would recuse himself from proceedings against Lalit Modi but lashed out at the suspended IPL commissioner for his "habit of leaking information" to the media.

In a 14-page letter to BCCI president Shashank Manohar on Tuesday, Modi launched a scathing attack on Srinivasan, saying the BCCI secretary should not be part of the panel adjudicating charges of financial irregularities against him.

Asked if he would stay away from the proceedings and oblige Modi, an annoyed Srinivasan replied, "I'm afraid I cannot discuss these issues in the media.

"Mr Modi has this habit of leaking information and letters to selected press but I cannot comment on these issues," Srinivasan said.

In his letter, Modi said Manohar too should stay away from the proceedings, since it would "tantamount to being a judge, witness and a potential co-notice" in the case.

Manohar, however, was not available for comment.

Charged with allegations of bid-rigging and proxy investment, Modi first sent a staggering 15,000-page reply to the show cause notice served to him and followed it up with another letter on Tuesday in which he targeted Manohar but came down heavily on Srinivasan with a series of allegations including that of "match-fixing".

Modi, in fact, requested Manohar to serve a show cause notice to Srinivasan and also suspend him pending an investigation.

Modi alleged that Srinivasan grossly misused his power as BCCI secretary and said there was a clear case of "conflict of interests" since he was also owner of the Chennai Super Kings team in the IPL.

Modi said if allowed to be part of the panel deciding his fate, Srinivasan will have an axe to grind against him.

"This stems from the manner in which I have consistently frustrated and exposed his attempts at misusing his position as honorary secretary of the Board so as to confer a wrongful benefit to his team (Chennai Super Kings) at the cost and expense of other teams and the BCCI," Modi said.

Modi accused Srinivasan of trying to "fix" matches by hand-picking a panel of umpires to officiate Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) matches in the IPL.

"This constituted a clear attempt at umpire fixing/match fixing. Upon my coming to know this I objected to the same and removed them in the interest of the League," Modi said.

Srinivasan also pushed "tailor-made policies" to suit CSK's interest, Modi alleged.