'Will have you raided by ED tomorrow': Ex-IPL boss Lalit Modi's explosive claim against Shashi Tharoor

Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, now residing in the UK, has vehemently denied allegations of bid rigging during the auction process for new premier league teams. He revealed extensive details about the controversies surrounding the Kochi Tuskers franchise, claiming he was pressured into signing the agreement under duress. Modi also claimed that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had threatened him with enforcement action if he refused to approve the deal.

Modi explained that the bidding criteria for IPL teams had been revised, raising the minimum bid price from $50 million to $300 million. "IPL became extremely successful. We're going to bid for two teams. I just said we are expecting a number close to $300 million from IPL. We don’t want anybody to bid for a team that they can’t pay for. Earlier the price was $50 million. Now we were expecting big money, $300 million. The minimum bid price was $225 million,” he said while speaking on Raj Shamani's podcast Figuring Out.  

He further elaborated, “If a team pays $225-300 million to BCCI, it has got to spend an equal amount on players and other things. A team needed $400-500 million of free cash flow. To have that kind of play money, a team must be at least worth a billion. That is the clause I put into the agreement. I said you need to have a net worth of a billion to be able to bid for IPL teams. That was my bid rigging."  

Three entities initially submitted bids: JP Group, Adani Group, and Videocon. Modi maintained that IPL adhered to strict deadlines. "We have very strict timelines. When the bids close, the bids close. We never extended ever for anybody. Bid closes at 5:00 pm. We had two bids. Another bid arrives at midnight. There's a hue and cry whether to accept the two bids only or accept the third bid also."  

"So I go back to the board and I say we have two bids at 5 pm. The bids don't come to me, they go to the BCCI office. The two bidders at 5:00 pm are saying that we should not be accepting the third bid. if you're accepting the third bid, other biders who have not been thinking of bidding would also like to bid." 

The first bid was for Ahmedabad team, second was for Pune team, and third came for Kochi Tuskars, which came in at midnight, he said. "If we accet the third bid, we will be digressing from our rules. So either we scrap this tender without opening it, and redo it for one week later. Then one issue also came up, Sahara had written that - 'we don't qualify for a billion mark but we qualify for $800-900 million -  why don't you lower the criteria? So I said no problem, if the board agree we will lower the criteria. So we lowered the criteria to no criteria. Again, I said we putting a no criteria is not worth it - we should at least do $400-500 million. the board said no."

By that time, Modi said, a lot of pressure had come in on a lot of members of the board and they said you will take the fall for this because there was also a lot of starcast at this bidding. Both the teams or all the three teams had senior stars associated with their bids. "I said, guys - bids off. New bids have to come in. Still, the base price of $225 million. We did not know what these three bidders were." 

The rebidding saw participation from multiple bidders. "In the new bid, again Adani Group bid, Sahara Group bid, many others bid. Sahara won the bid with Pune at $380 million, the second-highest bid was $348 million for Kochi Tuskars, and the third was the Adani Group's bid, $333 million," he said, adding that he signed Sahara's bid immediately but raised concerns about the Kochi bid.  

"I look at the Kochi bid. I look at the 12 shareholders of the Kochi franchise. It was supposed to be JP Group, which it was in the first round of bidding, which was a big conglomerate — all of a sudden, one week later it was totally different. I look at the agreements. There were 12 members. We find a clause in there that the shareholders have signed an agreement for $50 million."

Modi said that they had to pay $34 million to BCCI in year one alone at the start. And $7 million during auction. And they had an agreement only of $50 million. "You have to still pay the marketing cost, the operation cost - how you going to fund this team?" he asked then and said: "It ain't going to happen."

The former IPL boss claimed that he was then pressured to sign this deal. "Mr Tharoor is pressuring - I must sign the deal. So I say I will sign the deal but let me meet all the shareholders." He then met all the shareholders, but said one person by the name of Sunanda Pushkar was missing. According to him, in the agreement, Sunanda Pushkar had $0 in the $50 million consortium but owned 25% of the team for free. "Plus, for every dollar coming in revenue line, she gets 15% of it."

When Modi sought to meet Pushkar, he claimed he received a threatening call from Shashi Tharoor. "Immediately, I get a call from Shashi Tharoor, who said—how dare you ask about Sunanda Pushkar. I said, Shashi, what is the problem? I’m having a meeting, why isn't she here? Tharoor said—don’t you dare ask about Sunanda Pushkar. If you do, I will have you raided by ED tomorrow. You'll be taken by income tax, and we will jail you. I said — excuse me, who the hell do you think you are — and bang the phone down. And I said I’m not going to sign this agreement. There is something not right with this."  

Shortly after, Modi said he received a call from then-BCCI President Shashank Manohar, who instructed him to sign the agreement, allegedly under pressure from "10 Janpath". Modi claimed, "He said no, you need to sign it tonight. I said what’s the hurry about signing it tonight. He said no, you need to sign it tonight…I said, if you’re forcing me to sign it, then I will sign it under force and minute it on the agreement itself…as directed by the president of BCCI I’m signing this agreement and not on my own accord.”  

The day after signing the agreement, Modi said he saw newspaper headlines announcing Sunanda Pushkar's marriage to Shashi Tharoor. "Now all the pieces start to fall in place. And I said this is not going to happen on my watch. I just tweeted - who the hell is this Sunanda Pushkar, rags to riches...billionaire... media expert...now owner of Kochi Team. There was complete chaos across the country. Parliament had gone into an uproar. BJP was in the opposition, demanding JPC. That takes care of all the 22 charges of the BCCI."