Lalit Modi, the founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has opened up about the reasons behind his sudden departure from India in 2010, asserting that he fled due to death threats from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Modi dismissed allegations that legal troubles drove him out, emphasising that his strict anti-corruption stance made him a target.
Speaking on Raj Shamani's podcast Figuring Out, Modi shared details of the threats and his fight against corruption in the IPL. "I did leave the country when there was a death threat to me,” Modi said. “There was no legal case to start with. Dawood Ibrahim made the threat to me first after IPL-1 because I was also anti-corruption. I didn’t allow any...I was a very strict anti-corruption commissioner."
Modi proudly pointed out his track record during his tenure as IPL commissioner, saying, “In the three years of my tenure, there was not one incident of corruption, not one controversy of fixing.”
Modi revealed the scale of illegal betting in cricket, controlled by Dawood Ibrahim. "Betting is huge, it’s a $2 billion game. Betting is illegal today and was illegal at that time. The books are controlled by Dawood Ibrahim. I didn’t know this initially. I took a very strict stand, and I became the target,” he said.
The former IPL commissioner recounted multiple assassination attempts, including in South Africa, Thailand, and Montenegro. “Chhota Shakeel has already gone on record and given a live interview that they resolved issues with me. But there was a hit on me in Montenegro. My son was even kidnapped in the UK,” Modi added. "They offered big money...money you wouldn’t refuse. I refused. I was out of the game. I left in 2010, corruption began."
Describing the dramatic sequence leading to his departure, Modi said he was warned of an imminent attack. "My personal bodyguard on the plane told me to use the back entrance at the airport. Himanshu Roy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, was there. He told me, ‘Lalit, we cannot protect you anymore. We’ve been given orders by the Center. There will be a hit on you, and we can only protect you for the next 12 hours'.”
According to Modi, the warning left him with no choice but to leave the country that night. "I need(ed) to leave the country that night. It was decided with the powers that be, except the Congress people everybody else was in the loop. We had to pull the strings to get me out without being stamped out."
"So I did leave for the airport. My motorcade was followed by the media. So my motorcade left in one direction with somebody dressed as me from the garage of the Four Season Hotel in Mumbai and went towards the Taj, and a friend of mine picked me up without naming him — he’s still in India — and a political friend of ours picked me up who happened to be a minister at that point in time in the central government. (He) was part of the alliance. (He) put me in the back of the Range Rover, and I went through the airport."
Using his honorary credentials as a Consul General, Modi bypassed police checks. "I had VIP credentials of also being an honorary Council General of a country. So I could go through immigration without going through the police check, which is what I did. And I was allowed to board aircraft. By that time there was not a single case against me. I was not a fugitive, but there was a threat to my life."