Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi is staying out of the country for a long time now due to the legal reasons and recently he once again created controversy by leveling some serious allegations against N Srinivasan who has served as the BCCI President in the past.
Lalit Modi has accused N Srinivasan of manipulating IPL matches and auctions to benefit Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a team owned by Srinivasan’s company, India Cements.
While speaking on a podcast, Lalit Modi claimed that Srinivasan, who was BCCI secretary at the time, initially opposed the IPL but later exploited it to gain advantages for CSK.
Lalit Modi alleged that Srinivasan rigged IPL auctions, specifically ensuring CSK secured England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff in 2009 by instructing other teams not to bid for him. Lalit Modi added that Srinivasan wanted Andrew Flintoff for CSK because of which other teams were told not to bid for the England cricketer. Lalit Modi further said that the compromises were made because running the IPL smoothly was also necessary.
Lalit Modi also accused Srinivasan of influencing match outcomes by appointing umpires from Chennai for CSK games. He described this as a form of fixing as he said that Srinivasan used to replace umpires without any hesitation and appoint Chennai officials in CSK matches. Modi further said that when he tried to bring this truth out, Srinivasan turned against him completely.
Chennai Super Kings were later embroiled in a major spot-fixing scandal in 2013. Gurunath Meiyappan, a key CSK official and Srinivasan’s son-in-law, was arrested for cheating and fraud after police found he was in constant contact with bookies and actor Vindoo Dara Singh, who was also arrested. Following the investigation, the RM Lodha Committee banned Gurunath from cricket for life and suspended CSK and Rajasthan Royals for two years, forcing them to sit out the 2016 and 2017 IPL seasons.
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