Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 4 (ANI): IPL bidding row got murkier with suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi today claiming that Chirayu Amin was part of the consortium that made an unsuccessful bid for the Pune franchise.

Amin is the Twenty20 league’s interim chairman after Modi was suspended over charges of mismanagement of funds.

Modi said Managing Director of City Corporation Aniruddha Deshpande made the bid in March for a new consortium, which included Amin.

“There were three members in the consortium that was part of the bid. They were Aniruddha, Akruti and Chirayu Amin. It’s a fact of life and I cannot change or distort facts. They were the bidders, one can’t change that,” said Modi.

Earlier in the day, former BCCI President and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar dismissed reports of his family’s involvement in the bid for Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisees.

He rubbished a newspaper report linking his family to the IPL bid.

Talking to reporters here, Pawar said: “Neither I nor my family is involved with any IPL team or with the bidding process.”

“Whatever has been reported in the newspaper today was reported two months back also. At that time also I explained my position, which remains the same now. Neither me nor my family has direct or indirect involvement in any IPL team or in the bidding process,” he added.

Commenting on the report that his family holds shares in the Pune-based construction company City Corporation that made an unsuccessful bid for a franchise in March, Pawar claimed that the MD of the company, Anirudhha Deshpande, had made the bid in his individual capacity.

He also reiterated that the IPL is clean and that there is nothing murky about the ownership patterns and financial transactions in the league. (ANI)