Modi Offers IPL to Any Scrutiny
Commissioner Lalit Modi has offered IPL to any scrutiny by any agency, saying that the Income Tax officials have sought details regarding two new franchises Kochi and Pune and returned ‘satisfied’, said media reports.
Rubbishing reports of his being questioned by the IT sleuths for seven-eight hours last evening, Modi was quoted as saying, “They wanted the name of bidders, the process of bidding and the details of the bids for the two new teams… we have complied with everything and they have gone back satisfied about the entire process.”
Amid controversy pertaining to the ownership of the Kochi franchisese, IT teams yesterday visited IPL offices in BCCI at Wankhade Stadium and also Modi’s offices in Worli.
“I was questioned for only 15-20 minutes and they wanted to know formally IPL’s position on the bidders and the related issues. We explained it to them. They wanted all the relevant papers and to collect those relevant papers from 2-3 different places, it took some time,” Modi was quoted as saying on the inquiry part.
The former BCCI chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had come out openly in support of Modi last evening saying ‘there in nothing wrong in disclosing the names of the stakeholders (of IPL franchisees) to the public’.
Pawar had also defended Tharoor saying his ministerial colleague’s ‘basic interest’ was to bring cricket to the centrestage in Kerala and provide opportunities to players from the state.
In response to a question whether IT officials had sought details about other teams that were bid three years ago, Modi said, “They had asked few questions on it and after they were told that information is in public domain, they did not seek further details.”
During the I-T inquiry at the IPL office here, Ratnakar Shetty, Chief Administrative Officer of the BCCI, which owns the T-20 body, was also present at the building, reports said citing unnamed sources.
Shetty and I-T officials, however, refused to entertain reporters’ queries.
(Based on internet reports)
