Income Tax sleuths grill Modi for seven hours

Taxmen picked up documents related to IPL's franchisee bidding procedure from Lalit Modi's office this morning

3.30 am: Back to the wall: IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi left his Worli office at 3.30 am after a marathon questioning session byu00a0 the Income Tax department. The officers were conducting an inquiry into the financial details and shareholding patterns of the Indian Premier League. Pic/Shadab Khan

Taxmen picked up documents related to IPL's franchisee bidding procedure from Lalit Modi's office this morning
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The face-off with Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor seems to have backfired for the Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi. With the controversy over the Kochi franchise getting murkier by the day and the Modi-Tharoor spat being discussed in the Parliament, the Income Tax department sleuths got into action yesterday.u00a0

Taxmen raided Modi's three offices last evening around 8 pm the fourth floor of the office of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which houses the IPL office, Modi's business office at Nirlon House, Prabhadevi and his room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Worli, from where he has been operating since the third edition of the league began last month.

Modi was grilled for seven hours at Nirlon House and was let go around 3 am after I-T officials questioned him over the financial dealings and share-holding patterns of IPL amid allegations and counter-allegations over the bidding
process for franchises.

RAIDED: An official from the Income Tax department, carrying a laptop and a document-screening machine, leaves Lalit Modi's office at Nirlon House, Prabhadevi at 3 am today. PIC/SHADAB KHAN

However, Modi claimed after coming out of the questioning session by I-T men at 3 am that no raid was conducted.

Speaking to the media in the wee hours today, he said, "Neither did the I-T department conduct any raid, nor did they seize anything. They wanted some documents regarding franchisee bidding. The questioning did not take long, but the collecting of documents was time-consuming."

When asked what triggered the taxmen to start an investigation Modi added, "Ask the I-T department."

A senior I-T officer, requesting anonymity, said the decision on an investigation was taken following the Modi-Tharoor controversy.

Taxmen party

In the midst of the seven-hour investigation at Nirlon House, the I-T sleuths ordered dinner from a Home Deli, a nearby restaurant. They gorged on paneer makhanwala, aloo methi with chapatis and later had rice with Rajasthani dal and papad. The food bill came up to u00a0Rs 2,810, according to a delivery boy from the restaurant.