BCCI suspends Modi; Chirayu Amin is new IPL chief

In a dramatic late night development, the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended Lalit Modi as chairman and commissioner of the lucrative Indian Premier League almost immediately after the IPL final match in Navi Mumbai on Sunday night. His interim replacement is Chirayu Amin, the head of the Baroda Cricket Association and a vice-president of BCCI.

A suspension notice and a 34-page letter stating 22 charges of impropriety were served last night via email to Modi, immediately after the Chennai Super-Kings won IPL3. The flamboyant Modi has been accused, among other things, of accepting multi-million dollar kickbacks while assigning the telecast rights for IPL matches, and attempting to rig the bids for the two new IPL teams that were auctioned last month.

After the meeting of the IPL governing council, BCCI president Shashank Manohar said, "The chargesheet was discussed...we also asked Ratnakar Shetty to look into the records because many documents are missing from the IPL office...everyday, the income tax department is asking for them and we don't have them."

Modi has 15 days to respond to the charges against them. If his reply "is convincing, the proceedings will be dropped, said Manohar. Otherwise, the BCCI will begin a formal internal inquiry against Modi.

"The alleged acts of individual misdemeanours of Lalit K Modi ... have brought a bad name to the administration of cricket and the game itself," according to a BCCI statement.

Modi on Sunday afternoon issued a notice to all GC members that he would preside over the meeting and members could give it in writing their allegations against him as well as any other member. He has also been insisting through Twitter through Saturday and Sunday that he continues to be the IPL chairman and as such would preside over Monday's meeting.