New Delhi:
Preity Zinta, actor and part-owner of the Punjab team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has said that there are no "benami" or proxy holdings in Punjab Kings XI.
When asked whether IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi is being made the fall guy for what seems to be a financial grotesquerie, she suggested that he should be given a chance to defend the charges against him.
In an exclusive interview to NDTV's Barkha Dutt, Zinta said, "Please go ahead and clean up cricket. We will support everybody. But don't make random allegations." Zinta also said she has full faith that "the IPL will survive this." (
Read: Full transcript of interview)
Sources have told NDTV that Zinta's team, along with the Rajsthan Royals and the Kolkata Knight Riders, are being investigated for proxy stakeholders. Coincidentally, all three teams are part owned by actors.
Zinta said that she's confident that Modi is not a secret owner in the Punjab franchise. Modi's relative Mohit Burman, bought into the team at the same time as Zinta and other partners like Karan Paul. Mohit's brother, Gaurav, invested in the team later, said Zinta, and he is not a front for Modi. "The Burmans are a respectable and rich family" she said, adding that it doesn't make sense for Gaurav Burman to serve as a front for anyone.
Modi is likely to be sacked on Monday at a meeting of the Governing Council of the IPL. He has said he will not resign or attend that meeting.
The BCCI top brass boycotted the Awards Night in Mumbai on Friday in the wake of their confrontation with IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, but franchise owners Preity, Vijay Mallaya (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Shilpa Shetty (Rajasthan Royals) and Shah Rukh Khan (Kolkata Knight Riders) attended it. Asked about this, Preity said nobody should have the impression that the BCCI and franchise owners are on a collision course.
"No, I don't think so that it is BCCI versus franchise owners. It's just how individually we reacted. For us, we wanted to go. It was nice to see cricketers from different team laughing together. It could have been different had controversy not been there," Preity said.