“I’ll have you raided”: Lalit Modi reveals Shashi Tharoor threatened him for questioning Sunanda Pushkar’s role in Kochi IPL franchise, says Sonia Gandhi backed Tharoor

Former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi recently made a shocking revelation about Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, saying the politician once threatened him with an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid for questioning Sunanda Pushkar’s involvement in the Kochi IPL franchise.

Modi spilt the beans during a recent interview with Smita Prakash, Editor-in-Chief of ANI. He said that he received a phone call from Tharoor after he refused to sign the official franchise agreement until the identities of the shadow shareholders, including Pushkar, were made public. However, Modi did not budge despite Tharoor’s threat and refused to sign the agreement and hung up.

“I get a call from Shashi Tharoor on the phone. He says, ‘Lalit, don’t ask about Sunanda Pushkar. She is a good friend of mine. I asked why, and he said, If you do, I’ll have you raided in the morning. I said, ‘Screw you. Who the hell do you think you are? You may be the Foreign Minister of India, but don’t you dare ever tell me this.’ I slammed the phone and said I would not sign,” Lalit said. “I had no idea who Sunanda Pushkar was. I asked the consortium members, ‘Who is she?’ One guy says she’s an automobile dealer’s child, a famous marketing person. I said, ‘Hello, I’m a marketing person in India, and I don’t know who she is,” he added.

#WATCH | On the 2010 IPL Kochi scandal, IPL founder and first chairman Lalit Modi says, "Sonia Gandhi was backing Shashi Tharoor. I got calls from Ahmed Patel and Pranab Mukherjee in those days. You had that p@** Rajeev Shukla coming up to me and say 'Chalo Ahmed Patel aa raha… pic.twitter.com/eYX8zIXu4h

— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2026

Modi said that at that time he had no idea who Sunanda Pushkar was. He later found out that Tharoor was getting married to Sunanda Pushkar.

Explaining his resistance, Modi said that he refused to sign documents that granted ownership to Sunanda Pushkar in the Kochi IPL team, because she made no investments in the franchise. “All the shareholders were there except for the lady, Sunanda Pushkar. You’re giving away 25% shares to a lady called Sunanda Pushkar. Who is she? You’re giving up 15% of the revenue. Who is she?” Lalit Modi told Prakash. “How can somebody pay $350 million for a consortium where 75% of the shareholders are paying 100% of the cost, and someone else is getting 25% free equity?” he recalled asking the consortium members.

“For her 10-rupee share, on the day she got the team, it was worth 1 lakh rupees. Their 10-rupee share was worth 1 paisa. I knew this was going to collapse. And what happened? Two years down the line, it did,” Modi added.

For context, Lalit Modi was referring to an incident in 2010, when a consortium won the rights to an expansion IPL team in Kochi with a massive $350 million bid. Modi, who was then the IPL Commissioner, raised questions on the equity structure within the consortium, which allowed Sunanda Pushkar (the late wife of Tharoor), 25% free shares and 15% of the revenue without making any major financial contribution.

Lalit Modi said that he refused to sign the deal, predicting that the equity structure was not financially viable and would create problems in the long run. Eventually, Modi’s predictions came true, and the Kochi franchise collapsed after playing only one season in 2011. The franchise was terminated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) terminated it due to financial and contractual breaches. Political scrutiny compelled Tharoor to step down from the position of Minister of State for External Affairs.