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Journalism of Courage
Several stake-holders among them relatives and friends of Lalit Modi are likely to face the heat as Income Tax officials have found evidence of huge back-end transactions being conducted abroad before and after signing of IPL contracts.
With financial transactions and holdings of all teams under the scanner,the three names figuring prominently in the probe are Akash Arora,Manoj Bedale (Rajasthan Royals) and Modis step son-in-law Gaurav Burman (Kings XI Punjab). Interestingly,some of these names also figured in the IT Departments source reports,which had been submitted to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) long before the face-off between Shashi Tharoor and Modi began.
These source reports,available with The Indian Express,detail the meteoric rise in Modis financial fortunes and assets acquisition over three years of the IPL from an earlier background of failed media ventures,drug cases and defaults.
However,no request for back-up investigations has as yet been routed by the IT Department to either the Enforcement Directorate or the International Taxation Department.
As far as the Kochi team is concerned,sources said,the hitherto undisclosed stakes of two Test cricketers are being investigated. The holdings of the Kochi team and the sweat equity of Sunanda Pushkar were the main focus of the report prepared by the department for the Finance Ministry.
While Modi has maintained that neither his phones or computers were taken by members of the IT team that visited his offices in Mumbai,key members of the team say his computer hard disk was easily cloned.
Similarly,all data from Modis phone has been copied and is being examined. It includes several SMSs sent by Tharoor,but officials maintain that from an investigative point of view,such information is not important.
