Apologise, says Dalmiya, but BCCI unmoved

“You are called upon to withdraw your letter and tender an unconditional apology. In the event of non-compliance, I may be legally advised to initiate action against you personally, at your peril and consequences,” Dalmiya wrote in his letter to the BCCI secretary.

But Shah scoffed at Dalmiya’s counter-attack over the Rs 40-crore allegation hurled at him by the BCCI. Speaking to The Indian Express from London he Shah dismissed Dalmiya’s demand for apology when briefed about the development. “Why does Dalmiya have to ask for an apology now, when the Board has already explained its decision? We don’t care at all what he does now. Let him go to court if he has to. The Board’s decision on the Cricket Association of Bengal stays, we won’t change it. There’s no question of withdrawing the letter.”

It is clear from the BCCI’s hardened stance, that this fresh tussle has all the trappings of a courtroom battle. It is learnt that while the BCCI has brushed aside Dalmiya’s latest salvo, the CAB president is already studying his legal options.

This new episode harks back to the Board’s June 29 letter to the Cricket Association of Bengal , that indicted Dalmiya of failing to explain his misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 40 crore.

In his stern letter to Shah that Dalmiya made available to the press, the former ICC and BCCI chief condemned the BCCI’s charges as “capricious, unfair, in bad faith, whimsical, frivolous, and arbitrary”.

“The chain of motivated and capricious acts and conduct of the present incumbents of BCCI depict a malafide game plan,” Dalmiya argued. When these claims were read out to the BCCI secretary, Shah said that the Board “doesn’t see it as any threat” and was “least bothered to take it seriously”.