Though he was all set to play in Sunday's game before the disciplinary hearing, Harbhajan Singh has now been 'temporarily suspended'.

The Mumbai Indians' stand-in skipper has been pulled up by the IPL governing council after he apparently slapped India teammate, Kings XI Punjab's, S Sreesanth.


"Based on prima facie video evidence as seen and reviewed by the match adjudicator and referee Farokh Engineer from the tapes provided to him, a decision has been reached to suspend with immediate effect Harbhajan Singh of the Mumbai Indians pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, April 28, 2008," IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi said in a statement on Saturday.


Modi revealed to CNN-IBN that Harbhajan has been booked under Rule 4 of the ICC's code of conduct. "Harbhajan 's international career will depend on the match referee's decision. The minimum punishment is a 10-match ban (IPL matches), while the maximum punishment could be a life ban."


"We have the version of Sreesanth, but we also want the version of Harbhajan," the IPL commissioner said as the off-spinner hasn't come out in the open about the incident.


"There was definitely a point of provocation. But he was apologetic to Sreesanth afterwards. But the issue is largely that this incident has taken place and we have to make sure that it doesn't happen again," Modi added.

The IPL has clarified that the hearing will take place under the ICC's Code of Conduct and the report will be submitted to Lalit Modi.


Speaking to CNN-IBN, BCCI's Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said it wasn't just Harbhajan's act that should be taken into account, but also the role of Sreesanth in the incident.


"Sreesanth is also a party to the misconduct on the field. The tape clearly shows Bhajji hitting Sreesanth on the face. Players have let down the Board with such behaviour," he said.

BCCI President Sharad Pawar, however, has come down hard on the incident. "The Board will not be a silent spectator to such incidents. I advise IPL that if there is prima facie evidence, they should not keep mum and should take strict action. Decisions will be made according to IPL's guidelines," he said.

"We protected the interest of Indian players when they were innocent. We stood by him. But if there is prima facie evidence against him, he should face the music," Pawar, said, recalling when the BCCI had to throw its weight around the beleagured spinner during the racism controversy in the tour of Australia in January.