NEW DELHI: With investigators closing
in on former Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi’s links with an alleged
payoff in terms of a facilitation fee paid to the Mauritius-based World Sports
Group (WSG), the fallen T20 czar seems to be avoiding repeated income tax
summons.

Modi has left for London and is staying out of reach of a
probe that could be getting too hot for him. His non-compliance may have been
triggered by the questioning of his close associates, including secretary Deepa
Palekar in Mumbai last week. Palekar was asked about a payment of nearly Rs 80
crore made in the purchase of a private jet.

Sources said an I-T
probe has been able to link the aircraft purchase – extensively used by Modi as
his private transport – to the Rs 425 crore “facilitation fee” paid to WSG by
Multi Screen Media (MSM), formerly Sony Entertainment TV, for media rights of
IPL matches. It is understood that Sony has given evidence of a payment it
believes should have been made to BCCI.

The “payoff” was part of
renegotiation of IPL’s TV rights contract with MSM. WSG was given the rights for
10 years with a bid of $918 million. Following a dispute, WSG’s contract with
MSM was scrapped. The question arose as to why after renegotiation, MSM paid $80
million or Rs 425 crore to WSG.

The I-T probe found WSG had only $1
as share capital. It had entered into a back-to-back deal with MSM where Modi
allegedly played a vital role in negotiation.

This is a major
breakthrough in IPLgate probe with first links of an alleged payoff of Rs 100
crore being sourced to the beneficiaries.