More than a decade after stepping away from Indian cricket administration, former IPL chairman Lalit Modi has made a series of explosive claims about the circumstances that led to his exit from the sport. In an interview with ANI, Modi alleged that threats from underworld elements, including fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his network, played a significant role in his decision to permanently distance himself from cricket administration.
According to Modi, his strong stance against corruption and match-fixing during the formative years of the Indian Premier League brought him into direct conflict with a massive illegal betting ecosystem allegedly linked to organised crime. He claimed that his efforts to crack down on suspicious activities inside stadiums and around IPL matches were not well received by those involved in underground betting operations.
“Dawood Ibrahim is a known bookmaker. He controlled the cricket book. In those days, it used to be $2 billion of underground betting. Today, it’s $4 billion of underground betting a game. It’s huge. It’s unimaginably huge.”
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Modi also spoke about how betting and spot-fixing have allegedly evolved over the years, claiming that modern operations are far more sophisticated than traditional match-fixing scandals. “Nobody fixes games anymore. You fix overs. You fix the ball. We don’t know what success is. It’s become so sophisticated. Somebody takes out a handkerchief, somebody rubs something the other way, and it’s a sign.”
Reflecting on his time as IPL commissioner, Modi said he actively monitored suspicious activity and took strict action against individuals he believed were linked to corruption.
“If you look at the first three years when I ran the IPL, there was no fixing. I took a lot of people to task. I threw a lot of people out of the stadium. I banned a lot of people from coming. It wasn’t liked by the mafia. They offered me hundreds of millions of dollars to look the other way.”
Shocking revelations by Lalit Modi.
According to him, there is a fixer who roams around IPL team management circles.
This fixer is connected to a mysterious Baba who is very well connected and talks to Dawood Ibrahim over a phone call. Lalit Modi claims that this Baba wanted to… pic.twitter.com/B4M6Lj4Ea4
— Saffron Chargers (@SaffronChargers) June 4, 2026
One of Modi’s most dramatic claims involved an alleged meeting in London in 2012. He recalled being summoned late at night by an intermediary who reportedly wanted assistance in acquiring an IPL franchise. Modi claimed the intermediary attempted to pressure him by placing an alleged satellite phone call to Dawood Ibrahim.
“He takes out his satellite phone and calls Dawood on the phone. Baba says, ‘Dawood bhai, Lalit bhai aaya hai. Baat karo.’ I said I’m not talking. He put the call on speaker.”
According to ALalit Modi, he refused to engage and rejected all requests related to the alleged proposal. The former IPL chief further claimed that after refusing lucrative offers and continuing his anti-corruption efforts, he became the target of multiple threats.
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Lalit Modi alleged that law enforcement agencies in different countries intervened on several occasions and said there were attempts on his life in Mumbai, South Africa, and Europe. He also claimed that his son was briefly kidnapped in London. “Bombay police put me on Z-security. There was a shootout outside my house in Bombay. There was a hit for me in Johannesburg. My son was kidnapped in London.”
Modi concluded by claiming that tensions eventually eased after underworld figure Chhota Shakeel allegedly stated publicly that differences with him had been resolved. The claims remain Modi’s account of events and add another controversial chapter to the long-running story surrounding the IPL’s early years and his departure from Indian cricket administration.
