Former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi recently spilt beans about the controversial Kochi team bid process that kickstarted his eventual downfall. Modi, in a podcast with Raj Shamani, revealed that he was threatened by the then Congress MP Shashi Tharoor with ED action after refusing to sign documents that granted ownership to Sunanda Pushkar in the Kochi IPL team.
Modi elaborated that his reservations were grounded in the fact that despite having no investments in the franchisee, Ms Pushkar owned 25 per cent of the team and received 15 per cent of every dollar coming in the revenue line. Finding the arrangement fishy, Modi said he refused to sign the documents which is when he purportedly received a call from the then Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
“The second highest bid was $348 million by Kochi Tuskers. I looked at the 12 shareholders, it was supposed to be JP Group. All of a sudden, something different, I was marking everybody and there was one name I saw out there, a lady by the name of Sunanda Pushkar. Sunanda Pushkar in the agreement had $0 in the $50 million consortium but owns 25% of the team for free! Plus for every dollar coming in, revenue line, she gets 15% of it. I said I am not going to sign this agreement. Immediately I get a call from Shashi Tharoor. He said, “Don’t you dare ask about Sunanda Pushkar, if you do, I’ll have you raided by ED tomorrow, you’ll be taken by Income Tax and we will jail you.” Lalit Modi said.
HUGE allegations by Lalit Modi against Shashi Tharoor, and the Sunanda Pushkar IPL saga! 😳pic.twitter.com/tOqk1vq9ZN
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) November 27, 2024
Describing at length the incident, Modi added that when he persisted with his refusal, he got a call from the then BCCI chief Shashank Manohar, coercing him to sign the documents and alleging that he had received a call straight from ’10 Janpath’, the residence of Congress matriarch Sonia Gandhi, and regarded as the “real” power centre of the country before Narendra Modi ascended to the Prime Minister office.
