MUMBAI: Faced with a situation where his position became increasingly untenable BCCI president N. Srinivasan on Sunday agreed to step aside, with Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya taking over as the board?s "interim president".

Srinivasan who had convened an emergency meeting will step aside till investigations into the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal are over.

A probe into his jailed son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan?s role in the IPL spot-fixing is going on. Pressure mounted after IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla resigned on Saturday barely 24 hours after BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke had quit their posts.

In a statement BCCI honorary joint secretary Anurag Thakur said, "N. Srinivasan announced that he will not discharge his duties as the president of the board till such time that the probe is completed. Till such time, Jagmohan Dalmiya will conduct the day to day affairs of the board."

Dalmiya, a friend of Srinivasan, joined BCCI in 1979 and became its treasurer in 1983 the year India won the Cricket World Cup. He has been elected the president of BCCI many times. In 1996, he was unanimously elected International Cricket Council chairman in 1997 for a period of three years.

Punjab Cricket Association president IS Bindra said, "Dalmiya has taken over as interim president. Srinivasan said he cannot resign," after the meeting of the BCCI working committee.

"I questioned the legality of ?interim president? as the BCCI constitution does not permit this," he said.

Dalmiya will appoint a new member on the three-member inquiry commission in place of Sanjay Jagdale who had earlier resigned. The commission will go into the allegations of betting and spot-fixing against Srinivasan?s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and his franchise CSK.

The meeting also urged secretary Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke, who have resigned from the posts a few days ago, to rethink their decision and get back to the board in 24 hours. However, both of them said after the meeting that they have decided not to withdraw their resignations.

MUMBAI: The Disciplinary Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come down heavily on the five players accused of indulging in malpractices.

The committee comprising N. Srinivasan, Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah has decided to debar T Sudhindra from playing any form of cricket for life. He will also not be entitled to any benefits extended by the BCCI or hold any position in any cricket association affiliated to the BCCI.

The Committee held Sudhindra guilty of actually receiving a consideration to spot-fix in a domestic cricket match, and hence imposed exemplary penalty on him.

The committee also held Shalabh Srivastava guilty of agreeing to fix a match and negotiate terms for the same, even though no actual match-fixing or spot fixing took place. He has been debarred for a period of five years, from playing any cricket matches besides withdrawing any benefits that domestic cricketers are entitled to.

Furthermore, the committee has barred Mohnish Mishra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali from playing any cricket matches for a period of one year.

The committee was of the view that the three players, through loose talk and unsubstantiated bragging, brought the game into disrepute, and hence, have been held guilty of the lesser offence.

The penalties will be effective from 15 May, the date of the suspension of the players.

The decision came after the committee‘s meeting to peruse the report of Ravi Sawani, the Commisioner of Inquiry. The Committee also accorded a personal hearing to T. Sudhindra, Abhinav Bali and Mohnish Mishra. Shalabh Srivastava and Amit Yadav pleaded their respective cases through teleconference.

Hindi news channel India TV had done a sting operation exposing corruption in the cash-rich IPL.

MUMBAI: BCCI president N. Srinivasan has said that cricket?s richest board is willing to meet with Sahara and have have discussions to resolve contentious issues.

On Saturday Sahara had announced that it was cutting off ties to cricket, including the IPL where it owned a franchise.

Srnivasan said Monday BCCI has had a good relationship with Sahara. "Most certainly, we are ready to meet and sort out the matters. We have no problems with that. We do appreciate what Sahara has done. I am open to dialogue and BCCI is open to dialogue. We recognise there were grievances on their part but there was no reason to break suddenly."