Now, funding linked to arms dealers

In a confidential report submitted to the government, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has indicated the involvement of “dubious fund sources from abroad” in the IPL teams, including arms dealers from the Gulf.

In a confidential report submitted to the government, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has indicated the involvement of “dubious fund sources from abroad” in the IPL teams, including arms dealers from the Gulf. The IB is learnt to have raised serious questions about IPL Commissioner, Lalit Modi, pointing to his activities in Rajasthan, his home state, through which he entered the Indian cricket establishment, sources said.

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The Bureau is understood to have hinted that at least one IPL team, in which Modi's family members have a stake, has shady investors. In this particular team, links have been traced to arms dealers based in India and the Gulf. The IB has also noted that Modi's meteoric rise in Rajasthan cricket was due to his proximity with a former chief minister of the state during whose tenure he moved rapidly through the ranks. It has also referred to Modi's long-standing proximity to a senior union minister from Maharashtra.