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WorldTel joins the fun

File-a-suit seems to be the latest game in town, and never mind the cricket.

First, it was Jagmohan Dalmiya, filing a defamation suit against Sunil Dev. Then Dev in his turn filed a counter suit against Dalmiya. Both assessed the "damage to their reputations" in the hundreds of millions.

And now, WorldTel joins the bandwagon. The television outfit, and its managing director Mark Mascarenhas, have filed show cause notices to the Dev, Delhi District Cricket Association Secretary, demanding an apology for his allegation that WorldTel was involved in briberyy.

Dev had alleged that Dalmiya had colluded to give WorldTel exclusive television coverage rights, and also that WorldTel had demanded money from sponsors Pepsi for coverage.

Dev attempted to buttress his allegation by citing recent allegations that WorldTel had bribed a Sri Lankan cricket official to get telecast rights in the island.

The WorldTel notice to Dev was issued by London's McFarlanes, solicitors, and stated that Dev had committed breach of confidence by passion copies of BCCI correspondence to WorldTel's rivals, International Management Group and Trans World International.

In the suit, WorldTel and Mascarenhas have asked Dev to tender an apology, or face severe consequences.