 The IPL controversy around the franchise of Kochi have continued unabated.
The latest to be added to the issue was the visit of the officials of the Income-Tax
department to the IPL offices in Mumbai on Thursday. It was described as inquiry
and not as a raid, but it only adds spice to the speculation that all is not well
with the IPL.
The same has been described as an enquiry by Lalit Modi, a day after
the Kochi franchise was also interrogated by the IT department over how the
money to sponsor the sale came from.
The chief of the IPL Lalit Modi said, "There is an inquiry, it is not
a raid. The I-T officials are possibly looking for the details of the tender
(for the Kochi team). We will extend them all possible cooperation."
This has followed the days of speculations and allegations and counter-allegations
in which Lalit Modi had questioned the existence of the stake holders in the
deal. Modi had had an issue that not all the stakeholders were revealed by the
franchise. It is seen that Shashi Tharoor, who has played a mentoring role in
getting the franchises together - according to the minister himself - could
have actually had a stake in the franchise through Sunanda Pushkar.
Pushkar has been awarded a free stake of around 18% of the 25% stake that the
Rendezvous group has in the franchise. This has led to speculation amongst the
media that she is a proxy for Tharoor, but Pushkar came out strongly against
these suggestions. She said that she was a strong businesswoman and that the
stake was given to her by the group in lieu of her services to the group with
her expertise in marketing, promotion and branding.
Today, there was another twist in the story when the Rendezvous Group also
alleged that Narendra Modi may be involved in the deal and that the IPL
did not want the Kochi franchise to win the bid. The group alleged that Narendra
Modi wanted the team to belong to Ahmedabad, and when it did not happen, the
IPL commissioner tried to stall their bid by creating unnecessary hassles.
To add to that the franchise CEO had alleged yesterday that Lalit Modi had
offered them $50 million to "quit the game and get out" immediately
after their successful bid for it. Modi has denied the charges as expected.
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