Indian Premier League Chief Suspended

MUMBAI: Cricket mogul Lalit Modi has been suspended from his post as head of the Indian Premier League over allegations of corruption.

Modi’s suspension was announced over the weekend by BCCI, the governing body for the lucrative sport in India. BCCI’s president, Shashank Manohar, said in a statement: "The alleged acts of individual misdemeanors of Mr. Lalit K Modi … have brought a bad name to the administration of cricket and the game itself.”

Modi has 15 days to demonstrate why disciplinary action should not be taken against him, reports indicate. Authorities are said to be investigating Modi over reports of improprieties in the bidding for teams and in the negotiations of TV broadcast rights for games.

The crisis began when it emerged that a friend of junior minister Shashi Tharoor—formerly in charge of public information at the United Nations—had invested in a consortium that had been awarded a new IPL franchise in Kochi, a port city in Kerala, a state that Tharoor represents in Parliament. The revelation prompted Tharoor’s resignation and has led to government investigations into IPL teams, sponsors, broadcast partners and managers, the BBC reports.

Modi has denied the allegations. He said in his Twitter feed this weekend: "Wait for the IPL to finish—I will reveal the men who have tried to bring disrepute to the game and how we stopped them from doing it." In another post, he said: "Truth will prevail soon. Trial by media and no chance to present the facts is like the wild west. Wait and the facts will be delivered."