This Article is From Oct 04, 2016

Police Want Enforcement Directorate To Probe IPL Angle In Sunanda Pushkar's Death

Police Want Enforcement Directorate To Probe IPL Angle In Sunanda Pushkar's Death

Shashi Tharoor was accused of using his office to ensure Sunanda Pushkar gets shares in Kochi Tuskers.

New Delhi: Delhi Police has written to the ED to probe alleged financial irregularities related to now-defunct Kochi IPL franchise as part of its ongoing investigation into Sunanda Pushkar's death.

In a letter written to Enforcement Directorate on Monday, the Delhi Police asked it to investigate the matter.

Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing was probing the matter after the task was given to them during the tenure of former police commissioner BS Bassi.

The IPL controversy broke in 2010 with allegations that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, the then MoS for Home, "misused" his office to ensure that Rs 70 crore, equivalent to 19 per cent equity in IPL Kochi franchise Rendezvous Sports World, was paid to Sunanda Pushkar.

However, after ex-IPL boss Lalit Modi tweeted the ownership pattern in 2010, Sunanda Pushkar gave up the equity.

Rendezvous Sports World was a member of the consortium that had won the Kochi IPL franchise during the auction.

Sunanda Pushkar, who was not married to Mr Tharoor then, had refuted allegations of any wrongdoing.

She had also denied she was acting as the front person to Mr Tharoor in the Kochi IPL franchise.

"I am rendering services for Kochi franchise. (I) have advised them in getting IPL. I am also advising them on marketing and branding and hence I am getting sweat equity. It is only on paper now. I have not yet got it," Sunanda Pushkar had said in a statement when the IPL controversy broke out.

The matter had also forced Mr Tharoor to resign.

The EOW was probing whether Sunanda Pushkar was used as a "proxy" by Mr Tharoor or someone else in the ownership of the Kochi Tuskers and whether this had something to do with her murder.

Sunanda Pushkar, who 51 years old then, was found dead at a suite in a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014, a day after her spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter over the latter's alleged affair with Mr Tharoor. 
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