Preity Zinta-Lalit Modi email: 'Keep this to yourself, no one should know about it'

New Delhi: After The Indian Express accessed an email sent by Australia-based attorney to Lalit Modi and his brother Samir with an attached draft trust deed referring to the former IPL commissioner's alleged 'beneficial interest' in three IPL franchises, the newspaper on Friday reported about an alleged link between Preity Zinta and the former Modi regarding the ownership pattern of Kings XI Punjab.

“Let’s agree to sell. Please communicate with mohit,” Modi wrote to Sanjivan Sahani (who works for Modi) on November 22, 2014 in response to a mail from the actress, which was sent to Modi on November 21, 2014.

In the mail, a reference to a 'deal' was made and it also included a short note: “Hey Lalit, FYI”.

“The email below is self explanatory and next week we will get the other paperwork and final time lines to move ahead with this deal. This person has been vetted by the Bcci also and is a decent business man with a Punjabi background. Let me know your thoughts and pls keep this to yourselves as no one should know about (it) till the deal is done and signed off by us and Bcci. He is also ready to put money in escrow as we move forward so let’s make this happen and close it.” 

This mail was copied to Mohit Burman, Gaurav Burman, Kapil Khanna and Ness Wadia.

“Lalit Modi has been known to the stakeholders of KXIP because when the IPL was established by him in 2008, KXIP was one of the allotted teams. Due to his knowledge on the subject, a general enquiry was made by the stakeholders about an offer they had received from an interested party. There is nothing more to it. KXIP is surprised to note the contents of your email and the enquiry made for a story based on a few leaked personal emails.

The questions raised are based on the emails being interpreted out of context. Lalit Modi does not have any stake or interest whatsoever in KXIP. The stakeholders of KXIP are Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karan Paul,” was the response from a KXIP spokesperson to the newspaper with regards to the story.