Mumbai:
Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner Lalit Modi on Friday denied that he will be ousted out of the money-spinning cricket league. NDTV had reported earlier that Modi's wings might be clipped, and BCCI President Shashank Manohar will be made the co-chairman of the IPL.
Modi has now been summoned to Delhi by former BCCI chief and ICC President-elect Sharad Pawar. Both will then leave for Dharmsala, where top BCCI officials will meet on the sidelines of an IPL match.
On Thursday, Modi was questioned for as long as eight hours into the night over the financial dealings and share holding patterns of the cricketing body as Income Tax officials left his Worli-based office early on Friday. (
Read: Income Tax officials visit IPL, Lalit Modi offices)
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. (
Read: IPL will fully cooperate, says Lalit Modi)
"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. (
Read: Who is Sunanda Pushkar)
It triggered speculations about Sunanda being a proxy for Tharoor in the Kochi consortium, a charge which the minister has vehemently denied. (
Read: I am not a proxy for Tharoor: Sunanda)
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. (
Read: IPL Controversy: Tharoor meets Sonia Gandhi)
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. (
Read: IPL tangle: Enter Narendra Modi)
Gaekwad, however, later retracted his statement.
Meanwhile, sources said the BCCI will discuss the issue in its working committee meeting on April 24. (
Watch: Conflict of interest in IPL)
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.
"Since Manohar is BCCI President, it would not be proper to jointly head the IPL, which is a sub-committee of the apex cricketing body in the country," Pawar said.