Indian board issues show-cause notice to Kale

A show-cause notice has been issued to Abhijit Kale, the cricketer accused of attempting to bribe two national selectors for a place in the Indian team.

According to the Press Trust of India, the three-member BCCI Disciplinary Committee went through the report submitted by DV Subba Rao, the inquiry commissioner, and "found a prima facie case against Kale and framed charges against him", BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters. He said that the committee decided to "issue a show-cause notice to the cricketer".

To a query, a member of the BCCI's legal team said Kale would be given 15 days' time to submit his reply. Commenting on the court case filed by Kale, he said it was a different issue as the case had been filed challenging his suspension, whereas the Disciplinary Committee was considering the overall charge against him.

Kale was accused by Kiran More and Pranab Roy of offering them a bribe of Rs 10 lakh [approximately $22,000] each, and then suspended from the game by the BCCI. The board then appointed Rao, chairman of the Bar Council of India, as inquiry commissioner to look into the matter.

The three-member Disciplinary Committee was constituted after Rao submitted his report on December 5 following a day-long hearing at Visakhapatnam on November 29, during which he heard Kale, More, Roy and Sanjay Jagdale, a national selector from Central Zone.