After Shashi Tharoor, it is now Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel giving clarifications over his alleged role in the IPL imbroglio. Tharoor had to go. Will Patel's fate be different?

Just before the franchisee bids opened in March, the IPL CEO had sent a document on franchisee valuations to Purna Patel, the NCP leader's daughter who is working as “hospitality manager” with the IPL, and when Shashi Tharoor needed “help” for the Kochi bid, Patel's personal secretary sent this document to the former minister, the Economic Times reported on Thursday.

NCP spokesman D P Tripathi saw nothing wrong in Patel's "personal office" forwarding projections of new franchisee valuations to Tharoor before the Kochi team won the bid.

This adds to the NCP's IPL problems: reports have been doing rounds over party chief Sharad Pawar's possible role in the cricket jamboree. Will the two senior leaders put down their papers?

"No political party has made such a demand. There is no no basis for it. There is no no question," NCP spokesman D P Tripathi said at a press conference here in reply to a suggestion whether they should follow the example of Tharoor.

He said there was no no question of double standards being adopted by the NCP. "NCP has its own standards," he said when it was asked whether NCP ministers would follow the Congress example of Tharoor resigning from the government.

"We stand by the decision of the Prime Minister in the case of Tharoor," he said.

On Sadanand Sule, son-in-law of Pawar and husband of NCP MP Supriya Sule, reportedly holding 10 percent stake in Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony Entertainment Television), which has also been raided by Income Tax officials, the spokesman said, "he does not not own a share in the company."

Sadanand Sule has been associated with the Sony Television even before the IPL was born, he added.

Supriya says husband being defamed

(PTI) NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter and MP Supriya Sule today said her husband and his family were being defamed by some people in connection with the IPL controversy and that he will be taking legal action in this regard.

"My husband (Sadanand Sule) is talking to lawyers to take appropriate legal action against those who are trying to defame our name," Sule told reporters outside parliament.

She was referring to media reports that Sadanand Sule holds a stake through power of attorney from his father B R Sule in telecasting agency of IPL, Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony Entertainment Television).

Asked if the Congress was behind the campaign, she said, "No, Congress is our ally and we have come together not for cricket but to serve the nation."

On a media report that Praful Patel's personal secretary had sent a mail to former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor with a document containing projections of new franchisee valuations in IPL, she asked "was it a confidential (document) or classified that should not have passed on to others.

Sule said "Prafulbhai or me have nothing to hide. My husband's role is that he is a cricket fan of India, that is all. He has nothing to do with any of this.”

On reports about her husband holding a 10 percent stake in MSM, she said "His father was chairman of Sony for years, since 1992. The whole world knows it. It is not not a hidden secret. He is 84 years old and has been unwell for a long time and that is why he (husband) got it but only as a proxy. Nothing else."

On USD 80 million facilitation fee allegedly given to sports management company World Sports Group (WSG) for securing television rights from IPL, Sule said "nothing. No. Nothing. I cross my heart and say this.

Patel, Tharoor have long chat in Lok Sabha

(PTI) Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and former Minister of State Shashi Tharoor were today seen having an long chat in the Lok Sabha, on a day their alleged link in the IPL bids for the Kochi team was reported by a newspaper.

Around 3 pm, when the House was debating the Demand for Grants for the Rural Development Ministry, Patel and Tharoor walked in one after another.

As Patel took a seat in the back benches of the House on the treasury side, Tharoor soon went there and sat beside him.

The two then started their discussion, oblivious of the proceedings.

They sat together for 15 minutes after which Patel left the House.

The development came two days after Patel rubbished allegations of his role in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

However, the newspaper report today said his personal secretary had sent a mail to Tharoor with a document containing projections of new franchisee valuations in IPL.

Tharoor, who had resigned from the government on Sunday, has denied any illegality in his involvement in the IPL episode and Patel had said he had no role in the IPL.

“Probe will bring out facts”

When the investigation into IPL is complete, everyone will get to know it. I cannot comment on the income tax probe, says Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Modi questioned again by sleuths, two more IPL owners raided

(PTI) IPL's embattled commissioner Lalit Modi was grilled for the second time in two days today by Income Tax authorities whose sleuths raided offices of two more team owners in the nation-wide probe into its alleged murky finances.

Almost a week after he was first quizzed by Income Tax officials, Modi faced the sleuths for the second time in 24 hours in Mumbai with the probe focussing on a multi-million dollar deal for the telecast rights of Indian Premier League matches.

Officials of the Enforcement Directorate(ED), which is probing whether there was any flow of illegal foreign funds into IPL, were also involved in the joint questioning of Modi that began at 8.30 AM at Four Seasons hotel.

Taking forward the cross-country raids, the tax sleuths surveyed the offices of real estate major GMR and Sahara group--the owners of Delhi Daredevils and the new franchisee IPL Pune--in Delhi and Lucknow respectively. Tax sleuths swooped down on offices of four IPL franchisees--Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI--yesterday.

According to ED sources, the teams of the two central agencies collected some documents relating to the IPL franchisees from Modi's office at Four Seasons Hotel in central Mumbai and later questioned him at another office at Nirlon House at Worli.

Modi was later taken to the offices of IPL franchisee Mumbai Indians owned by industrialist Mukesh Ambani at Nariman Point where questioning and verification of documents were still on, sources said.

Last night, IT officials had questioned Modi barely hours after its sleuths searched the premises of three entities associated with IPL.

Modi's questioning last night primarily focussed on the broadcasting rights of IPL after it emerged that a "facilitation fee" of USD 80 million was paid by Multi-Screen Media to World Sports Group to re-acquire the telecast rights of the league.

During today's inquiry too, Modi was understood to have been asked questions about the payment of a portion of the facilitation fee by MSM to an off-shore company of WSG in Mauritius, a tax haven, allegedly without paying income tax on the transactions in India, sources familiar with the development said.

In Kolkata, Tax sleuths claimed to have found some "incriminating" documents during searches at the offices of Kolkata Knight Riders and Cricket Association of Bengal which went on till 1 am this morning.

According to ED sources, the team picked up documents relating to the IPL franchisees from Modi's office at Four Seasons Hotel and later questioned him at his premises at Nirlon House.

Modi was also taken to the offices of IPL franchisee Mumbai Indians owned by Mukesh Ambani at Nariman Point in south Mumbai.

IT officials had yesterday searched the offices of Multi-Screen Media, formerly Sony Entertainment Television, International Management Group and World Sports Group (WSG), all of whom are closely connected to the Lalit Modi-led IPL.

MSM is the telecasting agency of IPL, while WSG is its marketing arm. IMG is the organising agency of the IPL.

ED had registered a case against IPL under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to inquire into unauthorised transfer of funds from abroad.

The case was the first by ED against IPL after it received preliminary information that funds from abroad might have come in without mandatory RBI permission, sources said.

The ED was also contemplating registering a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act to have access into the foreign accounts of those who had allegedly pumped slush money into the IPL from foreign shores, including tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands.