Harbhajan was previously cleared of racial abuse

Spinner Harbhajan Singh has been handed an 11-match ban by the Indian Premier League after pleading guilty to slapping fellow India star Sree Santh.

The suspension will end his involvement in the competition unless his team, Mumbai Indians, reach the semi-finals.

Harbhajan, 27, will also lose his match fees for the whole tournament after the incident in a game last Friday between Mumbai and Santh's Kings XI Punjab.

"What I did was wrong. Sree is like my younger brother," said Harbhajan.

"I regret my actions that have hurt his feelings. I am very apologetic about the whole incident," added the spinner, who also admitted his actions were "grossly wrong".

TV cameras failed to capture the incident but paceman Santh was seen crying afterwards.

Players will not be able to get away if they behave like this BCCI official Ratnakar Shetty

Harbhajan was handed the ban and fine during a 45-minute hearing chaired by match referee Farokh Engineer.

IPL commissioner and tournament organiser Lalit Modi confirmed after the hearing that Singh was wholly to blame.

"The referee studied video tapes of the incident and found the assault by Harbhajan was totally unprovoked," he said.

Santh was let off with a warning but Mumbai coach Lalchand Rajput was fined half his match fee, with Modi saying: "He did not do enough to stop the incident.

"Rajput was right behind Harbhajan when the incident took place. He didn't take any step to restrain him."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed it will take separate action against Harbhajan because he is a centrally-contracted player.

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"Players will not be able to get away if they behave like this," BCCI official Ratnakar Shetty told the Times Now TV channel.

Harbhajan will be charged with a level four offence under the International Cricket Council's code of conduct which deals with player assault.

If found guilty, he could be banned for between five Tests or 10 one-day internationals and life.

Harbhajan faced controversy in January over allegations he called Australia's Andrew Symonds a monkey during the second Test in Sydney.

The off-spinner was eventually cleared of the charge of racial abuse, but found guilty of using abusive language.

Following the incident, Australia's Matthew Hayden described him as "an obnoxious little weed".