On Monday, Sunil Dev served a counter legal notice on Dalmiya challenging the ICC presidents' ''false and motivated'' accusations.
In a four-page letter, Sunil Dev has demanded an unqualified apology from Dalmiya within 48 hours and also Rs. 240 million within a week for internationally damaging his reputation, goodwill and prestige.
Dev asserted that the ICC president was raking up old and baseless issues on the eve of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) elections to damage his image and undermine his prospects.
Dev, is expected to contest for the post of Board Secretary and wrest power from the group supported by Dalmiya. ''Dalmiya is acting as an election agent of my opponents,'' Dev charged.
The 'trouble' started between the two when Sunil Dev had alleged that Dalmiya was involved in business deals with India's national television network - Doordharshan and WorldTel during the Independence Cup in May this year. The former BCCI secretary had refuted the charges last week and called upon Dev to prove them.
In a counter charge Dalmiya alleged that Dev had withheld earnings from advertisements on the drinks trolley during the 1989 Nehru Centenary Cup.
Dev. in his letter to Dalmiya said that the only reason for raising these baseless issues, that too pertaining to a tournament held eight years ago, was to damage his elections prospects. Referring to another point raised by Mr. Dalmiya, Mr. Dev said, ''I had suggested in March 1997 that there should be more transparency in awarding huge commercial contracts by BCCI. That demand still remains.''