The corporate affairs ministry today directed the Registrar of Companies to collect within a week, all details on IPL franchises, the bidding process and the sweat equity, coinciding with a finance ministry probe into funding of the cricket body.

The order, dated April 20, asked the RoC to get information on memorandum of association and also franchise agreement.

Corporate affairs minister Salman Khurshid had yesterday said that his ministry would find out "the rules of engagement" of all IPL franchises.

The probe follows the controversy over ownership of the Kochi IPL franchise, where Rendezvous Sports World had given 19 per cent of the 25 per cent stake held by it to Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of Shashi Tharoor, who resigned as a union minister late Sunday evening in the face of allegations that he had misused his official position.

Earlier report:

IPL row spills over to Cong-NCP ties

The controversy over the Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which claimed Shashi Tharoor's job, has a spillover on the ties between the two leading constituents of the UPA government – Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). As they realign their equations, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi's job seems to be on the block.

The government is learnt to have brought pressure over political leaders associated with the BCCI to sack Modi, whose acts of indiscretion are being probed by various government agencies.

Sources in the government say that Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, former chief of BCCI, met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram to discuss the whole controversy at length.

That the IPL issue has been gradually taking political colour is also evident by the fact that a section of the Congress leader has been blaming Pawar and the NCP for targeting Tharoor through Modi. Though Pawar has not given any commitment so far, there are indications that Modi would have to pay the price for his indiscretion sooner than later.

There is a feeling across the government and the Congress party that Modi proved to be too big for his boot by blowing whistle on the financial stakes of Tharoor's “close friend” Sunanda Pushkar in the Kochi team.

On the other hand, inputs received through various government agencies clearly indicate that the influential leadership of the BCCI had vested interests in keeping the Kochi team out of reckoning during the bidding.

The sources also say that IT officials and DRI and IB sleuths have collated enough evidence during the ongoing inquiry to prove that Modi is not above board.
 

Previous reports

We have nothing to do with IPL, says Pawar's daughter

(PTI) Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule today sprang to her family's defence, saying none of her relatives has anything to do with any of the Indian Premier League franchises.

Reacting to reports claiming that a powerful union cabinet minister's son-in-law's name figured in the papers of an industrial group that unsuccessfully bid for a new IPL team, Sule said her family had nothing to do with it.

"I say with full conviction that my husband (Sadanand Sule) or family has nothing to do with any of these issues. We always stay miles away from it. Yes, we are avid cricket watchers, my husband, my kids, my family all and that's where the buck stops," Sule, a Member of Parliament, told reporters here.

"We are all clear. It doesn't matter what people say and spread. I think at the end of the day your conviction matters," said the NCP MP.

She also threw her weight behind her father and said Pawar, a former BCCI President, played a neutral role in the Lalit Modi-Shashi Tharoor spat and it would be wrong to say he backed the IPL Commissioner.

"If you talk about Mr Pawar, in the first interview he gave on this issue he spoke well about Mr (Shahshi) Tharoor also. It is unfair to say that he only defended Modi. He even said good things like Tharoor was really keen on Kerala cricket."

Supriya also came behind senior NCP leader and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who allegedly lobbied for the Videocon group in the IPL bidding.

"Everybody knows Praful Bhai. He is one of the most popular and positive MPs and ministers in the country. He is loved by the entire country and I see no reason for him to do this," she said.

Lalit Modi called to Delhi, to meet Sharad Pawar

(PTI) Former BCCI Chief Sharad Pawar has called Lalit Modi for a meeting here amid intense speculation that the embattled IPL Commissioner may step down from his post after the event ends on April 25.

Modi, who has returned to Mumbai after attending the ICC's Executive Board meeting in Dubai on behalf of BCCI President Shashank Manohar, is expected to meet Pawar later in the day.

Though no BCCI official was willing to confirm the development, a BCCI source said that Pawar would meet Modi to take stock of the situation in the wake of the raging IPL controversy.

Pawar had a one-on-one meeting with BCCI Chief Manohar and senior member Arun Jaitley during the day.

Manohar's visit comes amid reports that the top brass of BCCI are planning to remove controversial Modi from the post of IPL Commissioner and Chairman. The meeting also assumes significance as Pawar is said to be close to Modi.

IPL Governing Council meeting on April 26

(PTI) Lalit Modi's days as IPL Commissioner appeared to be numbered as Sharad Pawar met BCCI chief Shashank Manohar and announced that the league's Governing Council will meet on April 26 to take a "collective and unanimous" decision on his continuance.

"Our (BCCI) total approach in the Governing Council will be they will take collective, unanimous decisions, and give future direction to Indian cricket," Pawar told reporters after Manohar flew in from Nagpur and discussed the "entire IPL situation".

Asked whether Modi would have to resign, he said,"If the authority is vested with the Governing Council, neither Sharad Pawar nor Shashank Manohar is interested to interfere in the basic right of all the members."

He said the board always took decisions collectively and unanimously.

Asked whether Modi would accept the Governing Council decision, he said, "Don't forget Mr Modi is also a vice president of the BCCI and our total approach and past experience, we always take collective and unanimous decision where everyone is party to, including Lalit Modi.

Pawar said Manohar suggested that Modi should call the Governing Council meeting on April 26 in Mumbai.

"I am absolutely confident of the leadership Mr Manohar is giving to Indian cricket. The IPL Governing Council will meet to resolve the entire issue. The total efforts will be to protect the interest of Indian cricket, the cricket loving public and the players," Pawar said.

Asked whether he wants Modi to quit, Manohar said his personal views don't count. All the issue would be discussed in the governing council meeting.

To a question whether the majority in the BCCI wants Modi to go, Manohar said he has not talked to other members.

Meanwhile, Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule, NCP MP, today categorically denied that either her husband or anyone in the family had any shareholding in the IPL teams.

"I say with full conviction that my husband (Sadanand Sule) or family has nothing to do with any of these issues. We always stay miles away from it. Yes, we are avid cricket watchers, my husband, my kids, my family all and that's where the buck stops," Sule said.

Likewise, Praful Patel, a senior NCP leader, also rejected allegations that he or his relatives had any stakeholding in any IPL teams and said he was prepared for any inquiry so that truth will come out.

"I have nothing to do with BCCI, IPL or its bidding process. It's a slander campaign against me. I don't know who is behind these reports. I'm ready to face any probe. It will bring out truth and prove these reports wrong. The probe will completely clear the air," Patel said.

Modi triggered the entire controversy by tweeting the Kochi franchise's stakeholding pattern, which also brought the cricket board under the Income Tax department's scanner.

Modi himself is under fire for allegedly helping his family and friends buy stakes in various IPL teams.

His tweets about Kochi's shareholding created a political storm as it emerged that Minister of State for External Affair Shashi Tharoor's close friend Sunanda Pushkar had a sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore. Tharoor had to resign, while Pushkar also gave up her stake in Kochi franchise.

Section of Cong spreading slander against me on IPL: Patel

(PTI) The simmering tension between the Congress and the NCP over the IPL controversy came to the fore today with Union Minister Praful Patel charging a section of the ruling party of launching a "slanderous campaign" about his involvement in the matter.

"Congress party per se is not involved in the controversy but a section of it is spreading a slanderous campaign against me," Patel, who is also NCP General Secretary, told reporters outside Parliament.

His statement came in the backdrop of reports that two Union Ministers were involved in the IPL, which is under cloud following allegations of betting and money laundering.

"I am happy that government has ordered a probe into it and now truth will come out. I have nothing to do with IPL, this I can assure you," Patel said.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule also sprang to her family's defence on the issue, saying none of her relatives has anything to do with any of the Indian Premier League franchises.

Reacting to reports claiming that a powerful union cabinet minister's son-in-law's name figured in the papers of an industrial group that unsuccessfully bid for a new IPL team, Sule said her family had nothing to do with it.