Chirayu Amin accepts Lalit Modi's charge, but says he's clean

A few hours after suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that Chirayu Amin, the interim IPL chairman, was part of the consortium that made an unsuccessful bid for the Pune franchise, Amin has admitted to it but asserted that he was clean.

A few hours after suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that Chirayu Amin, the interim IPL chairman, was part of the consortium that made an unsuccessful bid for the Pune franchise, Amin has admitted to it but asserted that he was clean.

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"I was approached by a group of businessmen to join them in the consortium to bid for the Pune franchise. I agreed to invest up to 10 per cent from one of our associate companies," said Amin.

However, before participating in the bid, he claimed to have written to BCCI president Shashank Manohar and said that further clearance would be taken from the board before investing in case the bid was successful.

"There was, therefore, total transparency at every step."

Earlier in the day, Modi had claimed that Amin was a member of the consortium, headed by Aniruddha Deshpande, managing director of City Corporation, in which Sharad Pawar and his family had 16 per cent shares.

"There were three members in the consortium that was part of the bid. They were Aniruddha, Akruti and Chirayu Amin," said Modi.

Heat on Pawar

Agriculture Minister and veteran cricket administrator Sharad Pawar on Saturday faced heat following media reports that his family holds shares of City Corporation, which made an unsuccessful bid to own an IPL team.

Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule, a Lok Sabha MP, both stoutly denied any involvement in the bidding process.

The BJP went on the offensive and for the first time demanded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief's
resignation from the cabinet on the IPL issue. The Left parties stuck to their demand of a joint parliamentary probe.

Pawar was virtually left to defend himself, with the exception of suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi speaking out in his favour.

"I have stated earlier also that neither I nor any of my family members were involved in any IPL team or the bidding process and I reiterate that statement," Pawar told reporters.

The minister said Aniruddha Deshpande, the MD of Pune-based City Corporation, made the IPL bid in his individual capacity.

The Congress refused to react.

"He is the head of a valuable ally," said spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.