A Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official on Thursday said that the board has taken over the Chattogram Royals franchise following a withdrawal letter submitted by the franchise owner, just a day before the start of the 12th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

"We have received a letter half an hour ago. In the letter, they said that due to the propaganda in the news media, they failed to get sponsors to run the team. That's why they are withdrawing from the tournament," BCB director and BPL governing body member secretary Iftekhar Rahman Mithu told The Daily Star today.

"We have already taken over the franchise. We are currently in the process," he added.

Chattogram has been under scrutiny since Triangle Services Limited, an internet service provider company in Bangladesh, were given the franchise rights for the 12th edition of the BPL.

Although Chattogram submitted their participation money of Tk two crore on time, they delayed several times in providing the bank guarantee amount of Tk 10 crore.

Later, on December 9, the board confirmed through a press release that Chattogram Royals had settled its franchisee fee in full. Furthermore, the board also relayed that the franchise had submitted the stipulated guarantee amount through authenticated financial instruments.

Meanwhile, although they have a scheduled game tomorrow against Noakhali Express, they are yet to bring in any foreign players so far, while they have changed their coaching setup multiple times.

Even many of their foreign players have withdrawn their names from the tournament at the last minute, while they are yet to complete the 25 percent payment to the players -- a rule that had to be followed by each franchise before the start of the tournament.