Modi Suspended!

Hello people,


BCCI has suspended Lalit Modi pending investigations with effect from April 26th, and has given him time to explain his position. He has been given 15 days to explain all the allegations against him.
The charges against Modi were,

• The alleged misappropriation of bidding document
• The alleged receipt of facilitation fee for illegal transfer of media rights.
• The alleged use of slush money which flows in from various tax haven
• The alleged behavioral problems
• The alleged scam on the ownership issue of Rajasthan royals and Kings 11 Punjab

Modi's three-year reign was effectively ended moments after the conclusion of the tournament final in Mumbai on Sunday and he responded in melodramatic fashion with an emotional speech at the awards ceremony.
The suspension notice was served on him by Rajeev Shukla, a BCCI vice-president, at the conclusion of Sunday's game, with N Srinivasan, the board secretary, sending an email to the same effect. It followed a day of negotiations with interlocutors attempting to persuade Modi to resign.
The public confirmation of his suspension came in a statement from BCCI president Shashank Manohar issued shortly after the end of Sunday's final. "Alleged acts of individual misdemeanours of Mr Lalit K Modi, chairman IPL and vice president BCCI, have brought a bad name to the administration of cricket and the game itself," it said.
"I have waited for IPL 2010 to conclude in order to respond to the situation as I did not want the event to be disrupted in any manner. Immediately after the conclusion of the IPL final, the secretary, BCCI Mr N Srinivasan has in consultation with me issued a show cause notice to Mr. Lalit K Modi under Rule 32 (iv) calling upon him to show cause within 15 days why disciplinary action should not be taken against him. Simultaneously, in exercise of the powers vested in me under Rule 32 (vii), I have suspended Mr. Lalit K Modi from participating in the affairs of the Board, the IPL, the working committee and any other committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India."
Modi had apparently received that notice by the time he went up to the podium for the post-match presentations, and it prompted an emotional, lengthy speech. "We have had some off field unpleasant dramas only based on innuendo, half truths and motivated leaks from all kinds of sources," he said. "I assure you all decisions have been taken jointly by the governing council and approved by the general body... Still, as the leader of the team, if there is any flouting of rules or any other financial irregularity, I will take full responsibility."
 Shashank Manohar said that Chirayu Amin, MD of a pharmaceutical company and the low profile president of Baroda Cricket association will be the interim commissioner of IPL. MAK Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri formed a committee which will hold talks with the franchisee owners on retaining of players next year. The current proposal is 3 foreign and 4 Indian players will be retained.

Modi has tweeted in response, that he is the IPL chairman and has been only suspended and he will go the legal way. Lalit Modis twitter

 Thanks!

All about Lalit Modi.

Hello people,

This is a long post ad please bear with me.

Here am I as promised. It’s ‘All about Lalit Modi’. Well at least as much as I know, as the man seems to be really murky.
Lalit Modi comes from a business background - he is the scion of Modi Enterprises, a $1.5 billion group of companies, and sits on the board of Godfrey Philips, one of India's more successful tobacco companies.

He joined the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association in 1999 (when it had no cricket stadiums) after promising to build a cricket stadium that would be used to play cricket in the Indian summer. In 2000, he started raising concerns with the way things were run in Himachal, and was booted out when Mr. Dhumbar became the Chief Minister of HP and installed his son as the President of the HP Cricket Association.Lalit Modi first came into cricket administration as a president of the district cricket association of Nagaur in Rajasthan. In fact from there start the allegations as well. The first allegation against Modi is that he impersonated one Lalit Kumar who was the actual president of the association. But the question of how he succeeded in hiding one man is a mystery. The court is pending in court. Kishore Rungta the former Rajastan cricket association president says Modi came to him introducing himself as Lalit Kumar. But only later did he find that it was a fraud. 

here is a link http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/03/07/1204780070687.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2


where the author Matt Wade says in 'The Age'

But there is also a hint of revenge in his motivation to get to the top of the Indian cricket establishment. More than a decade ago, Modi tried to launch an officially sanctioned professional cricket league, only to be thwarted by what he describes as "vested interests" in Indian cricket.

"We were burnt very badly by the powers that were," he said. "It became an ambition of mine to go out and clean it up."

It took Modi 10 years to break into the crusty world of Indian cricket administration. He finally succeeded by concealing his true identity to join the Rajasthan Cricket Association. He makes no excuse for this deception.

"It was a very close-knit club and they just wouldn't allow you to get in," he said. "I just used my first name and my middle name — not my last name — and that gave me the entry."

That’s a clear admission of his crime that is impersonation and fraud.

 So how did Modi rise in Rajastan. When Modi came up this way, the chief minister of Rajasthan was Vasundara Raje Sindhya, the BJP leader. Modi became the right hand of Vasundara Raje and here also it’s a mystery on how.

Vasundara Raje influenced the RCA to amend the laws, giving more power to the district cricket associations. Thus through a vote, Modi became the president of Rajasthan Cricket Association for the first time in 2003. This made him the real powerful ally of Raje. It is said that if a land deal had to go through in Rajasthan, the dealer had to first meet Lalit Modi and seek permission and only after that did the dealer go to the officials. Modi himself has made a lot of money through various land deals in Rajasthan, legally and illegally. There are a lot of allegations on Modi’s illegal land grabs. Latest one being grabbing of a ‘Haveli’ in Rajasthan illegally as it was a government heritage property. The case has been filed as a criminal one against Modi and his wife. There was a Royal family who alleged Modi grabbed their ‘Havelis’ and land through the real estate mafia.

Even before all this, Modi did his MBA or whatever graduation in the US. Its actually like in films when they say - ‘this underworld king started his crimes at a young age of 11 or 12’. Modi was accused of and arrested for a serious crime of Drug Trafficking in the US in 1985. He was found guilty too. He was also arrested for kidnapping and assaulting, and proven guilty. Now, shockingly Modi brushes this aside by this statement which is a sarcastic acceptance. “When I was in college I was in a fraternity and the fraternity was charged with a conspiracy to buy drugs — there were no drugs," he said. "What I may have done in my past, when I was in my teens, is not something that I am today." 

The Supreme Court has been hearing a petition challenging Modi’s position as a cricket official since 2005. But the case has acquired urgency lately after the petitioner asked for a quick resolution, either way.

Documents available with HT show Modi had pleade guilty to possessing cocaine, abduction and assault in the state of North Carolina in 1985.These documents are included in the petition being heard by the Supreme Court, challenging Modi's election as president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association on the grounds that its rules do not permit anyone convicted of a criminal offence to hold the post of an office-bearer. The petitioner is Kishore Rungta, who was defeated by Modi in the state elections. If the court upholds the petitioner's plea, Modi's position as vice-president of the Board for Control of Cricket in India may also become untenable.http://www.hindustantimes.com/special-news-report/IPL2008/Drug-rap-returns-to-haunt-IPL-boss-Modi/Article3-313632.aspx

 In 1985, General Court of Justice, Durham County, had charged Modi with kidnapping, assault and possession of 400 grams of cocaine, court documents show. He then entered a 'plea bargain', which is permitted under the US law and allows a reduced punishment without a trial if the accused confesses to his or her crimes. 

"Since the case was reported in the press, in order to avoid further publicity, embarrassment, protracted litigation in a foreign country, heavy costs and consequent intervention with his academic career, he entered into plea bargaining," Modi's lawyers wrote in a submission to the Supreme Court.The Durham County Court accepted Modi's plea bargaining application and found him guilty of kidnapping and assault. The court sentenced him to two years imprisonment and fined him $10,000. On Modi's request, the court placed him on five-year probation, asking him to undergo 100 hours of community service. The decision on sentencing for possession of drugs was deferred for five years on the condition that a $50,000 cash bond was deposited with the court. This is a normal practice in North Carolina for the first-time offenders.

 Modi moved the court again in 1986 -- after graduating from Duke University – seeking permission to move to India on health grounds, probably another fake.

 The court ordered: "As a fact the defendant has been hospitalised. His doctors indicate that a return to his home in India would facilitate his recovery and; they said probation be modified to unsupervised probation. As a condition, the defendant is to perform 200 hours of community service by 1990.”

Modi's lawyers say the US court did not pass any final judgment on the drugs charge in the next five years and the cash bond was also discharged. North Carolina rules allow first-time offenders in drugs cases to be given the benefit of deferred sentences. The issue of Modi's conviction has been haunting him regularly. 

A public interest litigation in the Mumbai High Court in 2007 challenged his election as BCCI vice-president on the same ground. Though the court refused to unseat Modi, it asked the BCCI "to implement stringent regulatory measures so that those involved in criminal cases, not just illegal drugs but other serious charges have no place in administration". There are no indications so far that the BCCI paid any heed to the Bombay High Court's suggestions.

The Supreme Court is yet to deliver a final judgment on this.

Now, let’s be back where we were. In 2004 there started a big power struggle on similar lines with the one that’s happening now. Sharad Pawar, the big politician, was vying for the post of the BCCI president and he was looking to oust Jagmohan Dalmiya then. Modi, knowing the moment, backed Pawar. IS Bindra, who is now the PCA president and former BCCI president, was Dalmiyas right hand man. At the last moment he backed off and joined Pawar which completely derailed Dalmiya. 

Thus the group that is now in the BCCI was formed. Modi’s rise was quick and exactly it happens in such cases, filled with many illegal and criminal cases. Not to let the others in this group clean. They too are making tons of money though illegal means.

In 2005, Dalmiya was ousted and Pawar became the president of the BCCI.

The IPL started in 2008, and all the credits were showered on Modi, though a similar league-ICL- existed and was powered down later by BCCI. The concept of T20 was there from since 2003 and the concept of franchisees is there in football since 1990. So I don’t understand, how Modi could just nurture out this ‘BRAND’ [I hate to hear cricket being dubbed a band]. Modi became all the more powerful with the IPL and became the Commissioner of IPL. Though I wonder about the positions in the BCCI as to whom is Modi accountable? He is also in the BCCI.

But in between all this, the Rajasthan government changed in 2008 due to a Gurjar tension. Congress came to power and this spelt trouble for Modi. All of a sudden cases were stacked against him in courts. The above mentioned case of ‘a criminal cannot be an office bearer’ case was as a result of the election. Other cases were that of ‘Havelis’. Modi allegedly, acquired these ‘Havelis’, to be a resident of Rajasthan so as to contest the RCA elections. So everything associated with him is a forgery. 

The tenants in the ‘Havelis’ were first evicted in the name of conservation and then were sold to a company in which Lalit Modi and his wife were directors. Settlement records however show that the ‘Havelis’ were actually government property.

"I have got the report and I'm studying it. I am yet to examine it in detail as I was busy in a cabinet meeting," said Rajasthan Art and Heritage Minister Bina Kak.

In fact families living in these havelis for generations have complained that the Raje government forced them to vacate their homes in the name of conservation and that the state archaelogical department even sent notices to haveli owners asking them to vacate. The pressure tactic allowed Modi to buy the havelis through a company called Heritage Constructions and then Ananda Heritage hotels.

"We never wanted to sell our havelis; who would want to sell his home? But the government piled on a lot of pressure on us saying that you have to vacate as these are heritage properties," said Bharat Singh, the owner of Amer haveli.

The pressure was too much. Modi lost the RCA election in 2008 and fight broke out between the Congressman, who was opposite Modi and Modi. The RCA was locked using 2 locks and even 2 teams were sent for a domestic competition, both being rejected in the end. There was a second election held as the court interfered and Modi lost again, this time the Congress candidate was different. Again fight broke out and Modi alleged that his supporters were not allowed to vote. But the result stayed. Modi was in trouble for his post in the BCCI as the vice-president which he became after the IPL started. But IS Bindra came to his aide and Modi became the vice-president of the Punjab CA. 

But Shashank Manohar, who had by that time become president of the BCCI from the vice-president position, was against Modi acquiring more and more power. Some of the congress members like Rajiv Shukla were also against this. Thus the move to oust Modi started in 2009 itself, if I am guessing right.

The rest of the saga is explained in my earlier blog.

 
Thanks!

The drama goes on!

Hello people,

The IPL dark war doesn’t seem to end as both sides are fighting it out hard and the muck is flying all over. When yesterday BCCI had all the support including that of Pawar and it was all set to oust Modi with Modi begging for time. But today the scenario is changing as Modi is gaining support of the Franchisee owners through Pawar and seems to go on the front foot. Almost all the franchisee owners have come in support of Modi after Pawar met Vijay Mallya.

In between there is speculation of Vijay Mallya or Ravi Shastri being the next IPL commissioner. All this while Modi was trying to gain sentimental support in the early half of the day by statements like, ‘ worked for 5 years give me 5 days’ and ‘ I had lot of work to do please allow me time’ ‘I was not paid’ etc. 

 There were news going around that Pawar facilitated the phone conversation between Modi and Shashank Manohar, the sort that we see in some Bollywood Movies and called Maandwali meetings! The fact that they were supposed to be speaking after 15 days makes it more filmy! Manohar is said to have asked Modi to resign and then would be provided with time.

But after that news Pawar met Vijay Mallya and he came in support of Modi. But the meeting was said to be official and about a contract between farmers and Vijay Mallya’s company! How foolish do they think people to be? When Finance Minister, Rajiv Shukla and Sharad Pawar met it was about wheat!

And Rajiv Shukla, he seems to be sending his mails first to the media and then to the BCCI. Anyways the mail was leaked in which Shukla accused Modi for money laundering and fraud without the knowledge of the BCCI! 

And as Jay Mehta, the co-owner of Punjab rubbished reports of match fixing and came in support of Modi, Modi came out bursting out in Twitter trying to be filmier and to be its ‘HERO’ as he was self proclaimed founder of the IPL and its mentor. He said that he has worked all this while to take it here [I wonder where] and he would not just walk away. He did not let his sentimental angle go as he said “there is a lot of pressure on me to quit, but I won’t.” He said “let them sack me and I won’t quit”. He also said that he was waiting for the IPL to get over before revealing names of the persons who tried to bring disrepute to the game. Modi and love for cricket? That’s a first! And this part is interesting. I hope Modi sinks and takes with him all the frauds. I am sure there are a lot of frauds with him and lot of scandals will come out if he squeals. Here is Modis twitter link http://twitter.com/LalitKModi.

Some points or Questions.

•         T20 began in 2003 in England. The league like IPL is there in England in Football. There was one ICL. Then how is the IPL the ‘BRAINCHILD’ of Modi? 
•    How is it that Modi is the mentor of the IPL or how has he brought it to the great heights it calls itself to be in? All the frauds in the BCCI and Modi himself were partners in crime. Then how does Modi can call himself the mentor?  
•     Another angle. How does the BCCI becomes so pure? After all they were partners in crime?  
•     Who is Pawar here? He may have proxy holdings and might be making a lot of black money. But officially, at present he holds no post in the BCCI or in the ICC [he will become president only in the next year] or in the IPL. Then how is he involving in this. Of course he is discussing wheat, Farmer contracts etc. But the meeting with Shashank Manohar? What was he discussing? His health? 
•     How is Modi to be paid as he asked? Who is accountable to, when he himself is the vice president of the BCCI and Commissioner of the IPL?  
• What is the organization like? What are the official positions? What is Modi supposed to do when he is the commissioner? After all there is also a CEO. 

 

By the way, there were IPL awards too. Only nobody noticed it! I was hapy that Sachin Tendulkar was not part of it; let it be for whatever reasons. But while all this muck is flying around, it’s ridiculous to have such an awards ceremony and with the stupid so called ‘bollywood stars’, it was disgusting and irritating and outrageous.

Lastly, let me get to the match fixing issue. As I have clearly mentioned what my thoughts are in an earlier post. I believe there is match fixing and the 27 players they named are just the part of it. It’s a company and the company is producing serials with most of the players as lead actors and some others [ like Sachin and Dravid] playing small roles [not related to cricket] as supporting actors with them not knowing the story. I believe it exists since the 2007 World Cup. And here is Sony's explanation of the MSM ESG issue. http://maxtelevision.com/press_statement_ipl.php

 I will try to come up with ‘all about Lalit Modi’ hopefully tomorrow.

 
Thanks!

The dark side of BCCI and Lalit Modi

Hello people,

As promised I am back with my topic titled. Some how its interesting that BCCI is also the name of a worlds most sleaziest bank! 

BCCI

Lets start with Lalit Modi as he is the one man who is supposed to have started the so called brain child that is IPL. Or is it better to start with BCCI. If I am to say about the BCCI, I will have to guess a lot as the word 'transparency' has been lost from the BCCI since, er.., since when I was born!
Well, the relevant history of the BCCI started as most of you know in 1929 as it replaced the Calcutta cricket club and India played the first test against England in 1932.

Kapil Dev

But the relevant history starts from some where in the late 1980s. In 1990 Madhav Rao Sindhya, congress MP, became the president  of BCCI. Then the chameleon IS Bindra,I am sure all of you know him, became the president. Still guessing who Bindra is? It was not Modi vs Kapil in the ICL. It was actually Bindra vs Kapil ego war. Bindra was Dalmiyas right hand man. Arre bhai Jagmohan Dalmiya! When the power struggle between Pawar and Dalmiya went on in 2004, Bindra switched sides, like a ...yes! Chameleon, he changed colours.Here is a list of the BCCI presidents. http://bcci.cricket.deepthi.com/bcci-presidents.html

Well, IS Bindra was president from 1994 to 1996 when the World Cup was held in the sub continent. Kapil has had a long history with the BCCI. Kapil sought a players union and held a players strike in 1989-1990. Thats why I said relevant history! But the cricketers' who were 10th standard pass' according to Navjot Sidhu, were over powered by the BCCI as they threatened new players will be introduced. Thats the strength of BCCI. They will always have players to play even if some players form a players union and strike. Thats why players have no rights in the BCCI.

Raj Singh Dungarpur

Then Rajsingh Dungarpur became the president of the BCCI, a man who many believe had integrity unlike many of the followers. Then it was AC Muttaiah in 1999. Finally Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2000. These were the men [dalmiya, bindra, muttaiah] all present from 1992, that commercialised cricket into a ugly marketting den.

Jagmohan Dalmiya

 After the match fixing scandal of 2000 Dalmiya vowed to frevive cricket. But the betting lobby was still very much active. Then as crickets popularity increased several folds after the Aus series in 2001, politicians were getting restless to replace these greedy businessmen. The real administrators who loved cricket were long gone. Now it was either these business entrepreneurs or the corrupt politicians. Power struggle between Pawar and Dalmiya started in 2003, after the World Cup. Dalmiya was ousted with several cases slaped on his head, just like Modi will be and IS Bindra switched to Pawars side.

lalit Modi

Now coming back to Modi, Modi was a virtual no one at the time of this struggle. In 2005, when Rajastans chief minister was Vasundara Raje, whose ally was Modi, came into Rajastan cricket as Nagaur districts cricket president. But there is a case against him that he impersonated a man named Lalit Kumar. Former RCA president Kishore Rungta is the one who accuses Modi. But with the support of Raje who amended the laws of the BCCI and the RCA which you can do everyday without any problem as BCCI is a private society which operates under a Tamil Nadu state law!

Ghelot

Vasundara Raje

Thus with the amendments that gave more power to district cricket associations, Modi became the president of RCA. But the very next year of the inaugural IPL,  Ashok Ghelot, the congressman became the Cheif Minister of Rajastan. By this time Modi had a Rajastan Royals team in the IPL. Butnow, Modi could not hold on in Rajastan as the congress Govt there was in a power struggle with Modi. Modi lost 2 elections in the RCA. He didnt agree with the first one as Rajastan sent 2 teams for a domestic tournament- one of Modi and other of a Congress MP who was now president of RCA! When Modi lsot elections again in 2010, he decided to shift his base to Ahemdabad, Gujrat under Narendra Modi. That is why the RR has 4 home matches in Ahemdabad and only 3 in Jaipur!

Sharad Pawar

The congress wanted Modi completely evacuated. That is why the present sham is going on. But Pawar wants Modi as he knows he cant survive if the Congress gets a hold on the BCCI.

In my opinion, the 2007 WC was fixed, 2008 T20 was fixed. The whole of IPL is fixed. Not the fixing by bookies. But the BCCI is working as a serial production company and fixing cricket-the serial.
BCCI had not accepted T20 earlier in 2003 as its source of income was ODIs. Then they planned the whole thing. India out of the 2007 WC in the first round. The popularity of Odis take a hit. India wins the T20 WC in 2008. The popularity of T20 skyrockets, along with the reception[bus yatra] organised and not received naturally by the BCCI. As T20 brand value is on a high , BCCI brings on the IPL.  Now you may not agree. But thats what I feel. As I am watching cricket from 1992, I cant see the naturalist flavour in the IPL [ NOT BY ANY MEANS T20, its good, its only the IPL]

Thanks!