MUMBAI: There is a Zee-BCCI face off in the offing as the former has decided to sue BCCI VP Lalit Modi for using "abusive and unparliamentary language" against its sports channel Zee Sports business head Himanshu Modi.

A PTI report has quoted Zee Telefilms EVP Ashish Kaul as saying that, it would file a defamation suit against Modi for Rs. 500 million for using filthy and abusive langaugage against our Zee Sports CEO Modi.

Kaul said, "We are going to send legal notice immediately for use of such language against a top official of Zee Sports."

Reportedly, the alleged incident happened on 6 April when Himanshu Modi protested against a violation by a competitor in the bidding for BCCI's global media rights for matches at neutral venues in the next five years. Zee won the rights after emerging as the highest bidder quoting a figure of $219.15 million.

Responding to the charges, Lalit Modi said he only protested against leakage of information to media and did not use any abusive language against Zee official. "Zee officials were protesting against Sahara's bid for overseas telecast rights, but I told them not to leak it to media," Modi has been quoted in the report.