Former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi has spoken out about his prolonged absence from India since 2010, firmly rejecting the label of a fugitive while revisiting his allegations of threats from underworld figures, including Dawood Ibrahim and his associates. Modi, who has been residing primarily in London since leaving India in May 2010, addressed these topics during an appearance on Wisden Cricket's podcast, The Scoop. The discussion covered match-fixing in cricket, his life outside India, and the circumstances surrounding his departure.
Modi denies ongoing threats
When asked whether there was still a hit on him, Modi replied, "No, no, that was past. That is the past." The former IPL chief maintained that he has no pending legal cases against him and strongly rejected being labelled a fugitive. He stated, "I'm settled here. I have no cases against me anywhere. Yeah, I never had a case against me. I wish there was one. I could tell everybody I'm running away because there was a case against me. I mean, you can be a fugitive only if you have a case against you and you run away. Not a single case has ever been filed against me, except for an FIR by Shrinivasan. Nothing else. No government agency has ever done anything. I paid all my taxes. There's nothing outstanding as far as I'm concerned."
Modi further explained that his children are settled abroad and that he has moved on from his association with the IPL and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). "Today, I'm very well settled here. My children are living here. At the end of the day, I have nothing to do with the IPL or the BCCI. As far as going back into business is concerned, I'm already way past the age of retirement. I've given it all to my children," he added.
Allegations of fixing and threats
The conversation then shifted to Modi's long-standing claim that he faced threats after refusing to allow fixing during his tenure as IPL commissioner. Asked whether his reluctance to return to India stemmed from a hit allegedly ordered by Dawood Ibrahim, Modi highlighted the absence of any fixing-related controversies during his time in charge. "You didn't hear of a single incident during my three years as IPL commissioner and chairman, nor a single investigation involving match-fixing during my time," he said.
Modi alleged that the same individuals who had attempted to influence him later became involved elsewhere in cricket. "And I pointed it out. The same people who tried to fix it with me — Chhota Shakeel and Dawood. The same people got involved with (Gurunath) Meiyappan. It wasn't me because I didn't look the other way. And that's why they went after me. So when they said I was making it up, was I making it up? Simple as that. My son got kidnapped. There was a hit on my life across the world. They went after me. They're not easy people. So why would I want to go back and touch something that is toxic? It is toxic. Betting is toxic. The underworld is toxic," Modi said.
Fixing in IPL and smaller leagues
When asked whether fixing still exists in the IPL, Modi said corruption in cricket has evolved but stopped short of making any direct allegations against the league. "They're fixing in cricket. It has gone to a very sophisticated level. Whether it's in the IPL, I don't know. I don't think so, but I don't know. And I can't tell you because I genuinely don't know. But I'm sure it exists everywhere; every sport has its issues. I can't give you a yes-or-no answer, to tell you the truth. And I would like you to play all of this. Don't cut out this portion because otherwise people will take it the wrong way. Because I'm telling you very clearly: I do not know. I don't think it would be happening in the IPL because the money has become so big. It is so big that there is no reason for players to fix because they have too much to lose," he said.
However, Modi claimed that smaller cricket leagues remain particularly susceptible to corruption and betting-related activities. "But I can tell you for a fact that in many of the smaller leagues, you will see games being manipulated. Not in the main leagues, but in the smaller leagues, and especially in the bachha leagues, it's all about fixing. You'll see so many entrepreneurs launching these small inter-city leagues, inter-area leagues and interstate leagues. There is no corporate governance there. There is nothing out there. You don't even see television coverage. It's all about satta baazi," he said.
Modi highlighted the massive scale of betting in cricket, stating, "And if you look at the satta baazi market today, it's massive. If you have Rs 40,000 crore being bet per day — not per season, per day — and you have 100 games, it's a $40 billion industry in cricket alone, a number nobody is talking about. It is huge, and something that huge tends to have problems. Cricket lends itself to ball-by-ball betting, with odds changing every delivery. For lack of a better word, that's the reality. And the smaller leagues are toxic. Very toxic."
