Batra is behind a campaign to remove his rival, leading calls for an IOA Extraordinary General Assembly to be held so he can propose a vote of no-confidence. 

Batra has now claimed that before the election he was offered INR ₹1 million (£10,000/$16,000/€14,000) by an associate of Ramachandran every year in which he remains President in return for supporting his candidacy.

But Ramachandran, who is also President of the World Squash Federation, has hit back through his lawyers.

In a strongly worded letter obtained by insidethegames, Ramachandran claims the allegations are “false, malicious” and “tortuous conduct”.

A sum of INR ₹100 million (£1 million/$1.5 million/€1.4 million) must be paid in damages within a 15-day period, the letter says, along with an unconditional apology withdrawing the remarks to be sent to Ramachandran and also published in the Economic Times, the newspaper which published the allegations.

In a separate letter sent personally to Batra, also obtained by insidethegames and published below, he calls for copies of all the letters requesting the no-confidence motion to be sent to him within the next 24 hours so he can take “an informed decision at the earliest” in order to “discharge his obligations” as President.

He has personally received 20 such letters, he reveals, some of which are dismissed as invalid.

This marks the latest escalation of a conflict which became public last month after it was claimed Ramachandran had denied other key figures within Indian sport access to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach during a visit there in April.

Batra has claimed the President is "working towards weakening and finishing off the IOA".

Up to 13 Federations in India, along with several regional bodies, have supported his calls for a vote of no confidence.

Ramachandran, however, has dismissed this as a "smear campaign".

It is the accusations of bribery which have provoked a stronger response, and particularly the fact they were sent to leading sporting officials, including International Olympic Committee (IOC) director general Christophe De Kepper and Olympic Council of Asia and Association of National Olympic Committees President, Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah.

"The said remarks are false, malicious and calculated to lower our Client, Mr. N Ramachandran in the estimation of the right thinking members of society generally and specifically in the eyes of the members of the IOA, - the IOC - and amongst the sporting fraternity and administrators," Harishankar Mani, Ramachandran's lawyer, writes in his letter to Batra.

"By releasing your defamatory comments to the Press you have further aggravated your tortuous conduct by disseminating the same far and wide."

Mani warns in his letter that if Batra does not pay the compensation figure then further legal action will be taken. 

This is "entirely at your [Batra's] risk as to costs and consequences", he writes. 

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May 2015: Motion of no confidence tabled against Ramachandran as Indian Olympic Association feud reopens