Income Tax inquiry-kkr and punjab feels the heat

Income Tax officials are conducting coordinated Indian-Premier-League-related inquiries in eight cities.

There are "surveys"  now on in Pune, Kochi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Mumbai, all cities that have IPL teams and their offices. These are being coordinated out of Mumbai in an effort to fast-track the investigation on IPL financial dealings.

Working on a three-pronged inquiry into the source of funds of all IPL team-owners, the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax officials and the Corporate Affairs Ministry are conducting detailed checks on the financial transactions of all teams.

Income Tax officials are at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) office in Kolkata, where the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) office is located. The KKR office in Mumbai too is being visited by Income Tax officials, who maintain that this is a routine document-based inquiry.

In Chennai, there is a similar Income Tax survey at the office of  India Cements, which owns the Chennai Super Kings. About 40 income tax officials have swooped down to check documents at the office. They are closeted with officials of the company.  

In Chandigarh, the promoters of the Chandigarh IPL team, Kings XI, have been summoned by a court. The team is part-owned by actor Preity Zinta. The other partners are Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman.  

The Registrar of Companies in Chandigarh has complained that the team's promoters are not sharing their balance sheets or details of their accounts. The court has issued summons for July 23.

Early this morning, the Income Tax officials today conducted "surveys" as tax officials call them, at four different locations, including the offices of the two groups who hold the rights to telecasting IPL matches: World Sports Group and Sony Multi Screen Media (MSM). Tax officials also visited the home of the WSG Chairman, Venu Nair. The tax officials are trying to  connect the dots between these groups and IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi amid allegations of kickbacks.

The Mumbai Indians franchise, meanwhile, has filed its IPL equity holding pattern. According to the filing made public today, 98.3 per cent of the equity of the Mumbai Indians franchise, IndiaWin Sports Pvt Ltd, is held by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd (RIIHL) and the remaining 1.7 per cent is held by Teesta Retail Pvt Ltd