Shady control on cricket's glittering lights? Lalit reveals underworld don's involvement in IPL

In a sensational disclosure former Indian Premier League IPL commissioner Lalit Modi revealed for the first time that alleged lifethreatening intimidation from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his crime syndicate was one of the single biggest reasons behind his decision to permanently retire from cricket administrationIn an exclusive interview with ANI Lalit detailed how his unyielding stance against matchfixing during the initial years of the IPL directly collided with the multibilliondollar underground betting empire controlled by the DCompany He asserted that the syndicate operates an unimaginably vast Satta Bazaar where odds change with every single ballDawood Ibrahim is a known bookmaker He controlled the cricket book In those days it used to be 2 billion of underground betting Today its 4 billion of underground betting a game Its huge Its unimaginably huge Every ball theres an odd chance Its the Satta Bazaar Nobody fixes games anymore You fix overs You fix the ball Lalit revealedExplaining the sophisticated spotfixing methods where bookies target individual balls or specific overs through covert onfield signals Lalit added We dont know what success is Its become so sophisticated Somebody takes out a handkerchief somebody rubs something the other way and its a sign Okay we watch for these signs We look for these signsHe stated that because he strictly monitored these signs and refused to cooperate he became a primary target for the mafia If you look at the first three years when I ran the IPL there was no fixing I took a lot of people to task And I threw a lot of people out of the stadium I banned a lot of people from coming It wasnt liked by the mafia he noted adding that he rejected massive bribes They offered me hundreds of millions of dollars to look the other wayRecalling a sequence of events from 2012 Lalit recounted an incident where a Londonbased fixer orchestrated a latenight meeting at a penthouse belonging to a wellconnected intermediary named Baba During this meeting the intermediary allegedly called Dawood Ibrahim directly via a satellite phone from his terrace and placed the fugitive don on speakerphone to pressure Modi into facilitating an IPL franchise for the syndicateI have not told this story to anybody Im called at 330 in the morning He fixer says You have to come and meet this guy Baba And you have to come now I thought maybe its something important So I go to Babas house There he Baba says You have left India we need an IPL team I said I am not even in India Why do you need an IPL team Whoever wants to go and buy from someone can go buy it Moreover Im not even going back to India there is a Dawood problem there To which he said I will fix it in a minute Lalit recountedThe intermediary then went out onto his terrace took out a satellite phone and allegedly dialled Dawood Ibrahim directly He goes on his terrace He takes out his satellite phone and calls Dawood on the phone Baba says Dawood bhai Lalit bhai aaya hai Baat karo Dawood Bhai Lalit bhai has come Talk to him I said Im not talking So he put the call on speaker I again said Im not talking And he Dawood simply says You are his friend forget everything it is all over Lalit disclosedThe former IPL chief further disclosed that his refusal to comply triggered a relentless wave of coordinated retaliation across the globe forcing law enforcement agencies to interveneBombay police recorded everything It was chatter that came from the Bombay police Bombay police put me on Zsecurity I didnt ask for it All of a sudden I had Zsecurity There was a shootout outside my house in Bombay There was a hit for me in Johannesburg And Im in Cape Town which was picked up by the South African government There was a hit on me in Montenegro which was picked up at the Croatian border My son was kidnapped in London on Sloane Street right there by a guy called Baba Avin He lived on Park Street Lalit claimedLalit alleged that the underworlds hostility escalated drastically when he successfully relocated IPL Season 2 to South Africa disrupting massive betting syndicates that had wagered the tournament would not happen They accused me of moving IPL to South Africa when they thought it was not going to move because they ate the bets up So they lost a lot of money apparently So they wanted me to make good that money I didnt ask him to take the bet I dont have anything to do with it he explainedLalit claimed that this multilayered standoff was only defused after top syndicate operative Chhota Shakeel gave a live interview confirming that the mafia had resolved its issues with Lalit Modi When asked what exactly was resolved Lalit clarified that it was his personal guarantee to completely step away from the sport that saved his lifeHe Chhota Shakeel said we have resolved issues with Lalit Modi I just said I will retire from cricket I gave my word I would retire Its one of the biggest reasons One of the biggest reasons Why would I subject myself to media pressure government pressure and then lifethreatening pressure Lalit saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever