IPL in trouble, I-T extends probe to all teams
Investigating officers of I-T department extended their probe to other IPL teams.
Trending Photos
Modi may further be questioned in the matter, they added.The tax administration had already started a specific probe into the Kochi franchise of IPL, embroiled in a major controversy over the ownership issue, to ascertain if its money had been channelled illegally from tax havens abroad. The tax probe followed a political row in since last week after allegations that Sunanda Pushkar, a shareholder in the Kochi IPL franchise and a friend of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, received free equity in it. Officials said their main concern was, however, was black money abroad and tax evasion. They added that just as they try to prevent such ill-gotten funds from going out the country, they also try to probe if it is channelled back into the country illegally. The franchise for the Kochi team, which will play from the fourth edition of the IPL Twenty-20 cricket extravaganza, was won in an auction last month by a firm called Rendezvous Sports for over $330 million. Along with Subroto Roy`s Sahara group, which bagged the franchise for the Pune team, the second of the two new teams, the Kochi team is scheduled to join eight other teams from the next edition of the cricket tournament. These are: Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. Modi has so far maintained that there was a question mark over the ownership of the the Kochi IPL franchise since the owners themselves did not know some of the people involved with it. "With regards to the eight franchisees, we know about all the stakeholders. But there are still some doubts over the ownership of the Kochi franchise. Even the people who signed the tender documents don"t know who they are," Modi had said. -IANS inputs