SHASHI THAROOR FORCED TO RESIGN OVER ₹70 CRORE IPL "SWEAT EQUITY" TO FRIEND
Junior External Affairs Minister Pressured Lalit Modi to Shield Rendezvous Sports World Stake
On 18 April 2010, Shashi Tharoor resigned as Union Minister of State for External Affairs following revelations that his close friend (and later wife) Sunanda Pushkar was gifted ₹70 Crore worth of "free sweat equity" (nearly 5%) in the new Kochi IPL cricket franchise.
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi publicly tweeted that Tharoor had called him repeatedly demanding not to disclose the beneficial ownership structure of the Rendezvous Sports consortium.
The scandal exposed the nexus of political influence peddling in multi-billion dollar commercial sports leagues.
📌 Key Figures & Decision Makers
- ▸ Shashi Tharoor (Minister of State for External Affairs)
- ▸ Sunanda Pushkar
- ▸ Lalit Modi
- • Enforcement Directorate (ED) Investigation Report on IPL Franchise Allotments (Enforcement Directorate, 2010)