Lalit Modi questioned by IT department

Questioning at his IPL goes on eight hours

PTI | April 16, 2010



Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi was questioned for as long as eight hours over the financial dealings and share holding patterns of the cricketing body as Income Tax officials left his Worli-based office early today.

I-T officials visited IPL Head-Quarters at Wankhede Stadium as also Modi's office at Nirlon House in upmarket Worli, where they quizzed him from 7.15 pm to 3.20 am.

Modi, speaking to reporters later, said the I-T officials were visiting several places in the city in a bid to find out details of the bidding process and when he came to know of it, he invited them over to his office.

"They were given documentation details, they verified the documents and went through the entire process of bidding. We fully cooperated with them and provided them with all they required," the IPL commissioner said.

Asked about the longer duration of the questioning, he said, "The questioning was over in a few minutes, but it took them longer as they had to go through the documents."

Modi said the officials saw the documents related to bidding by new franchisees owned by Sahara and Kochi consortium as well as those related to other IPL franchisees.

"They were very much satisfied. We are a public body and if they have more queries, we will answer them," he said on whether I-T authorities sought more time to question him.

The IPL chief rubbished media reports that his laptop was seized and unaccounted cash recovered from his office. "99 per cent of stories being put out by the media are untrue."

According to I-T sources, the agency apart from probing the sources bankrolling the cash-flush league, is looking into whether ill-gotten money staked away in tax havens like Mauritius has made its way into the IPL.

Modi, the brain behind IPL, has been in the eye of a storm ever since he tweeted about Rs 70 crore Sweat Equity in Kochi franchise being held by Sunanda Pushkar, a friend of minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor.It triggered speculations about Sunanda being a proxy for Tharoor in the Kochi consortium, a charge which the minister has vehemently denied.

Raising questions about the propriety over a Union Minister having a proxy stake in an IPL franchise, the BJP and Left have demanded Tharoor's resignation.

Giving another twist to the murky IPL saga, Kochi franchise spokesman and former MP Satyajit Gaekwad had alleged that the IPL boss was acting under pressure from Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who after failing to secure a franchise for the state-based Adani Group, wanted the Kochi franchise to shift base to Ahmedabad.

Gaekwad, however, later retracted his statement.

Meanwhile, sources said the BCCI will discuss the issue in its working committee meeting on April 24.

Amid reports that BCCI president Shashank Manohar is likely to be appointed co-chairman of IPL to clip Modi's wings, the former chief of the Board and Union Minister Sharad Pawar virtually ruled out such a possibility.

 

 

Comments

 

Other News

How to make our cities climate-resilient

Indian cities are growing at a pace that our infrastructure and climate can no longer sustain. This rapid urban sprawl increasingly strains urban systems, overshadowing the severe environmental fallout produced in its wake. The repercussions include Urban Heat Island Effect (UHI), Urban Floods, and many mo

Trump’s China setback pushes US to woo India

A week after Donald Trump’s visit to China – the first by an American president in nine years, US secretary of state Marco Rubio arrived in India on May 23 on a four-day visit aimed at resetting Washington DC’s relations with New Delhi and attending the third Quad ministerial meeting.

EU–India FTA 2026: A high‑stakes prescription for Indian pharma and healthcare

India’s pharmaceutical industry stands as one of the world’s market leaders of generic pharmacy with market valuation of USD 50 billion in 2026. Characterised by high volume, low-cost generic manufacturing, with an annual growth rate of 10-12% primarily propelled by exports and domestic demand,

Legends, vignettes and tales from the freedom movement

Robin Hood of Kathiawar and Other Extraordinary Stories from India’s Freedom Movement By The Paperclip  HarperCollins, 348 pages, Rs 499  

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta tells quirky tales from the world of law

The Lawful and the Awful: Quirky Tales from the World of Law By Tushar Mehta Rupa Publications, 336 pages, Rs 995  

Cabinet meet discussed `Ease of Living`, `Ease of Doing Business`

The Council of Ministers has deliberated upon valuable perspectives and best practices relating to boosting ‘Ease of Living’ and ‘Ease of Doing Business’, prime minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.   As he shared details of the Council meeting held the d





Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter