Pranab Briefs PM on Investigation into Politicians’ Link to IPL
Regarding ongoing IPL money trail, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the probe being conducted into how bids for franchisees were made, said media reports.
According to CNN-IBN, Singh and Mukherjee also discussed the links of NCP leaders Praful Patel and Supriya Sule into the IPL controversy.
Recently, Patel confirmed the media reports that his private secretary had e-mailed Shashi Tharoor documents containing projections of the new franchisee valuations in the IPL. His confirmation came merely two days after his categorical denial of any role in the IPL.
Patel’s secretary Champa Bharadwaj had forwarded a mail to Tharoor’s personal mail account on March 19, two days before the bids were opened.
This took place hors after IPL CEO Sundar Raman sent the document to the Minister’s daughter and IPL hospitality manager Poorna Patel. The Kochi consortium surprisingly made the second-highest bid.
However, Patel now says that Tharoor had sought his help, reports said.
“Shashi Tharoor called me because he was putting together a team. He wanted me to speak to Lalit Modi and help him out. This has got nothing to do with IPL. This is a needless controversy,” Patel was quoted as saying.
(Based on internet reports)
