“It looks premeditated,” Nanavati told The Indian Express after returning to Ahmedabad on Wednesday evening. “The footage doesn’t show anything to suggest that Harbhajan’s act was provoked. He just slapped Sreesanth once and went away.”

But, the lawyer added: “I will have to go through all the documents and record everyone’s statements before arriving at any conclusion. It will be immature for me to say anything now. My main task now is to establish whether Sreesanth provoked him.”

Nanavati had seen the footage with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah and joint secretary MP Pandove. He has not been given a copy of the recording.

Nanavati stressed that Harbhajan had committed a serious offence and may receive a harsh punishment. “His offence is very serious. The laws are very strict. His penalty may vary from 10 matches to a life ban. But it’s not within my purview to decide the nature of punishment. My job is to find the truth, and whether Harbhajan’s act was premeditated or spontaneous.” He added that if a player apologises or repents his action, there is a scope for the punishment to be relaxed somewhat.

His statements came on a day when Harbhajan, desperate to get a waiver, pleaded with the BCCI in a letter to give him “one final chance”.

According to reports, Harbhajan said in the letter that he had apologised to Sreesanth after the incident in Mohali and was willing to do it again in public. “Along with accepting my most sincere and heartfelt apologies over this incident, I would like to appeal to the board’s sense of fairplay and ask for one final chance before taking any disciplinary action against me over this incident,” he was quoted to have written.

Nanavati said he had not been told about the letter so far. “The board has not handed me any letter written by Harbhajan,” he said.

Harbhajan has already been banned for 11 matches by the IPL organisers, and the Indian board is likely to slap further punishment on him for a Level 4 offence under the ICC’s Code of Conduct.

The IPL had also fined Lalchand Rajput, but Nanavati dismissed media reports that the Mumbai coach was seen laughing and applauding Harbhajan after he slapped Sreesanth.

“The tape doesn’t show that Rajput was either clapping or laughing while Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth. There are other players and officials shaking hands with each other in the tape,” Nanavati said.

Harbhajan and Sreesanth have been summoned to Ahmedabad by Nanavati. While Harbhajan has confirmed that he will meet the commissioner on Friday, Sreesanth is yet to set a date. “Harbhajan will come by the Friday morning flight from Delhi. I haven’t had any communication with Sreesanth yet,” he said.

Nanavati said that he would submit his inquiry report to BCCI president Sharad Pawar on Monday.