The BCCI decided to suspend Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, TP Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali with immediate effect following a television sting operation, which claimed to have exposed corruption in IPL and other first -class matches.

The action came after a tele-conference among top BCCI officials and IPL Governing Council members. The BCCI has also decided to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the incident by Ravi Sawani, the former head of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption unit, and who is now heading the BCCI's newly constituted Anti-Corruption Unit.

It has all along been suspected that the wins and losses in the IPL were not all square-and-fair ones. When Union Minister Rajiv Shukla took over as chairman of the IPL Governing Council, the first thing he did was to discontinue the post-match bashes which were suspected to be the meeting ground for unwanted elements with the players and officials, and to set honey trap for the players by using starlets and models.

But the spot-fixing scandal does not stop with the players, and even top guns of the franchisees and other officials are suspected to be involved as the idea is to rake in the moolah by any means, though there was never any clear evidence of match-fixing or spot-fixing.

The BCCI has cracked the whip only when some fringe players spilt the beans, and four of them have reportedly played in the rival Indian Cricket League, the birth of which forced the BCCI to launch the IPL. The expose has rocked Parliament and former players and officials have also expressed their indignation at the goings-on, which has put a blot on the hugely popular IPL, watched by capacity crowd at all the venues.

"The IPL Governing Council met on teleconference today at 2.30pm and they recommended to the BCCI president (N Srinivasan) for strict action against those players who were found guilty and found suspicious on the television footage shown on a TV channel," IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla told the media.

"Since it also involved matters relating to other matches and previous IPLs, it was referred to the president. The presiden has decided to have a preliminary inquiry for which a commissioner has been appointed. Ravi Sawani who was the ICC ACSU chief and now adviser will conduct the inquiry and will submit a report to the disciplinary committee," he said. "Pending inquiry the five players have been suspended from all cricket activities with immediate effect.