Lalit Modi Alleges Sunanda Pushkar's Stake Raised Questions During Kochi IPL Deal

Lalit Modi, who started the Indian Premier League, threw some tough accusations at Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in an ANI interview from London. He claims Tharoor's wife, Sunanda Pushkar, got a team stake improperly. That team is the Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Plus, Modi says Sonia Gandhi backed Tharoor on this matter too.

IPL's first chairman, Lalit Modi, said about the 2010 IPL Kochi scandal that Sonia Gandhi was supporting Shashi Tharoor. "During those days, I received calls from Ahmed Patel and Pranab Mukherjee," he said. He… Rajiv Shukla came to me and said, 'Come on, Ahmed Patel is coming. …How can anyone give 350 million for the team? That's the Kochi consortium. Where 75% of the shareholders are paying 100% of the costs? For every dollar that comes in revenue, they're getting 15% of the money. I knew it was going to close. It closed after two years.'

He said, "I didn't sign the agreement because I wanted to meet every member of the consortium. The meeting was held in Bangalore. All the shareholders were there except a lady named Sunanda Pushkar. I'm looking at this agreement, and by the way, I didn't know who she was. I'm asking these consortium members. You're giving 25% of the shares to a lady named Sunanda Pushkar. Who is she?" I said, "I won't sign this agreement until I find out who Sunanda Pushkar is." As soon as I said this, I got a call from Shashi Tharoor. He said, "Lalit, don't ask about Sunanda Pushkar." He said, "If you ask, I'll have a raid conducted on you in the morning."