Modi to get full-body check

Published>Sat, Apr 17 10 03:20 AM

Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi may downplay the action of the income-tax department describing it as a mere "inquiry" into the formation of the Kochi consortium, but sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that instructions have been issued to investigators to "go the whole hog" and probe "all aspects and all contracts" related to the beleaguered cricket league.

So instead of officials involved in Thursday's operation being called to the New Delhi headquarters of the director general (investigations) for assessing, a team flew to Mumbai on Friday as an indication of the seriousness the probe has acquired.

A team also visited the Punjab Cricket Association on Friday for information on IPL. At this stage, officers said, full-fledged search-and-seizure operations cannot be ruled out.

While officials said it's too early to detail the papers seized from the offices of the IPL and Modi on Thursday, CCTV footage retrieved from the Four Seasons Hotel suite in Parel, where Modi has a temporary office, is being reviewed.

Reason: when the first batch of IT officials reached the BCCI headquarters in Churchgate on Thursday, they were told that some important documents were lying in Modi's office in Parel. They now claim that since the IPL bosses were forewarned, they succeeded in "spiriting away" the papers before the IT team could reach Parel. Says a senior official: "The CCTV footage retrieved by us clearly shows IPL officials leaving the hotel with papers and briefcases, minutes before the IT team reached the target destination. We are now trying to identify the officials and make a damage-control assessment." Instructions given to the inquiry team on Friday are that besides papers on the formation of IPL teams and money transfers, also under the scanner will be bidding documents and all IPL-related contracts. These would include: contracts signed by Modi and his team for IPL's TV rights, theatre rights, mobile streaming rights, portal and production rights and all merchandise contracts.

"Information received by us that some of the IPL chief's relatives and friends benefitted hugely by winning some lucrative contracts and the fact that money transfers for several deals were routed from abroad are now all part of an all-encompassing probe," a senior official said.

Source: Web Search