Supreme Court relief for Pawar, five top board officials

India's Supreme Court has stayed criminal proceedings against former BCCI president Sharad Pawar and five other board officials. The order concerns a case of perjury - specifically, the production of a false affidavit - filed by Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The BCCI decided last month to challenge the Kolkata High Court's decision to order the initiation of criminal proceedings against the officials. The case is a fallout of Dalmiya's expulsion from the BCCI.

Apart from Pawar, the officials are Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer, Niranjan Shah, the former secretary, N Srinivasan, the current secretary, and Chirayu Amin, vice-president. Pawar was the board president when the matter went to court.

Dalmiya, a former board president himself, filed a case of perjury against the officials in June 2007 for allegedly producing false documents in court relating to his expulsion in December 2006.

The BCCI had filed an affidavit - signed by the six officials - in the High Court stating that the rule under which Dalmiya had been expelled from the BCCI had been registered as required with the Registrar of Societies in Chennai. Dalmiya then filed a case against the six officials alleging that the documents submitted in court were false and were produced with intent to mislead the court.