MUMBAI: The war in the Cricket Board intensified on Thursday with Mr Lalit Modi planning to move court against the Governing Council meeting that may oust him from the post of IPL commissioner even as BCCI accused him of hiding details of stakeholding by his relatives in franchises.

The embattled Mr Modi was on Thursday night said to be considering moving the Bombay High Court seeking an injunction against the April 26 meeting where Governing Council member, Mr M A K Pataudi says he would be ousted if he keeps away. Some top lawyers are expected to appear for Mr Modi who has contended that the Monday meeting was illegal as only he had the power to convene it.
BCCI president, Mr Shashank Manohar shed his reticence to attack Mr Modi who had threatened to reveal details of franchise ownership. He also rejected Mr Modi’s contention on the meeting and said it would go ahead as scheduled. He dismissed Mr Modi’s claim of BCCI secretary, Mr N Srinivasan having a conflict of interest in owning Chennai franchise.
“Mr Srinivasan was a declared bidder. If Modi and his relatives had a share in any of the franchises, he ought to have declared it at the meeting. I was not a member of the Governing Council then. He ought to have told everybody,” the BCCI president said.
Mr Manohar said it was improper of Mr Modi to think of revealing details of the ownership patterns, saying there were complex legal issues and confidentiality
clause. “We have to look at the documents which we have never seen in our life and that’s why we will discuss all issues in the Governing Council meeting, because, if required, we have to take legal opinion in that regard.” He said he had the support of BCCI and Mr Modi himself had earlier agreed not to divulge details but now he was selectively leaking mails.
Mr Lalit Modi, in the meanwhile, was grilled for the second time in two days on Thursday by Income Tax authorities. Almost a week after he was first quizzed by Income Tax officials, Mr Modi faced the sleuths for the second time in 24 hours in Mumbai with the probe focussing on a multi-million dollar deal for the telecast rights of Indian Premier League matches.
Officials of the Enforcement Directorate(ED), which is probing whether there was any flow of illegal foreign funds into IPL, were also involved in the joint questioning of Mr Modi that began at 8.30 a.m. at Four Seasons hotel.
According to ED sources, the teams of the two central agencies collected some documents relating to the IPL franchises from Mr Modi’s office at Four Seasons Hotel in central Mumbai and later questioned him at another office at Nirlon House at Worli. Mr Modi was later taken to the offices of IPL franchise Mumbai Indians owned by industrialist, Mr Mukesh Ambani at Nariman Point where questioning and verification of documents were still on, sources said. On Wednesday night, IT officials had questioned Mr Modi barely hours after its sleuths searched the premises of three entities associated with IPL.
Mr Modi’s questioning on Wednesday night primarily focussed on the broadcasting rights of IPL after it emerged that a “facilitation fee” of US$ 80 million was paid by Multi-Screen Media to World Sports Group to re-acquire the telecast rights of the league. During Thursday’s inquiry too, Mr Modi was understood to have been asked questions about the payment of a portion of the facilitation fee by MSM to an off-shore company of WSG in Mauritius, a tax haven, allegedly without paying income tax on the transactions in India, sources familiar with the development said.
Meanwhile, Mr Pataudi said that Mr Modi should step down if he has so much conviction in his innocence. Asked if Mr Modi should step aside in the best interest of IPL, Mr Pataudi said, “Yes. I think so. Let these allegations and accusations come to some kind of conclusion and let’s see because he’s kept on saying ...For the last few weeks that he’s done nothing wrong. So fine, if he has done nothing wrong, let them take it out. If Mr Modi does not come for the meeting, the BCCI would take a very strict view of this,” Mr Pataudi said. “Unless Modi comes and says in the meeting that he has been working 20 hours a day for the last six weeks and need 3-4 days time to prepare his answer, his outser is certain. But if he does that, the Board may give him time,” he said.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), an important ally of Congress, was on Thursday at the centre of the IPL storm over the alleged role of Union Minister Mr Praful Patel, its leaders and their family members including that of Mr Sharad Pawar’s daughter Ms Supriya Sule in the raging controversy surrounding the cricket league.
The party and Ms Sule, who represents Baramati in Lok Sabha, dismissed reports of any wrong doing on the part of the leaders or their family members but Mr Patel himself declined to comment to reports on the controversy surrounding him. Ms Sule, however, admitted that her husband Mr Sadanand held 10 per cent stake in Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony Entertainment) as a “proxy” for her father-in-law Mr B R Sule, who was associated with Sony for a number of years. MSM allegedly paid a facilitation fee of US$ 80 million to sports management company WSG for securing IPL television rights.
With NCP, which has nine MPs in Lok Sabha and is part of the coalition government with Congress in Maharashtra, getting sucked into the raging row, Finance
Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee is believed to have apprised the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh of the goings on in the IPL, especially on the allegations regarding its sources of funding. He is also understood to have briefed Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi.
Opposition leaders questioned the role of Mr Patel, who reportedly forwarded an e-mail from his daughter Ms Poorna, IPL’s hospitality manager, to former minister, Mr Shashi Tharoor with details of projections of new franchise valuations two days before the Kochi IPL team was bid. “I have nothing to say,” remarked Mr Patel tersely to reporters outside the Parliament. Ruling out the possibility of resignation of Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Praful Patel in the wake of IPL controversy, NCP dismissed reports of involvement of any of its leaders or their relatives in any financial wrongdoings in the cricket league. Party spokesman, Mr D P Tripathi saw nothing wrong in Civil Aviation Minister Mr Patel’s “personal office” forwarding projections of new franchise valuations to Mr Tharoor before the Kochi team won the bid. On Mr Sadanand Sule reportedly holding 10 per cent stake in Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony Entertainment Television), which has also been raided by Income Tax officials, the spokesman said “he does not own a share in the company.”