Former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi has claimed that alleged death threats from underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim and his criminal network were a key factor behind his decision to permanently exit cricket administration.
In an interview with ANI, Lalit said his efforts to combat match-fixing during the early years of the IPL put him at odds with betting operations allegedly associated with the D-Company. According to him, the syndicate runs a vast gambling network where betting odds shift constantly throughout a game, with changes occurring after nearly every ball bowled.
Lalit described the alleged intimidation as one of the most significant reasons for his departure from the sport’s administrative landscape, linking it directly to his opposition to illegal betting and match-fixing activities.
“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. Every ball, there’s an odd chance. It’s the Satta Bazaar. Nobody fixes games anymore. You fix overs. You fix the ball,” Lalit said.
Discussing the increasingly sophisticated nature of spot-fixing, Lalit said bookmakers no longer rely on obvious methods, making such activities difficult to detect. He claimed that subtle gestures and coded on-field actions, such as handling a handkerchief or making a specific movement, can allegedly serve as signals, and noted that investigators closely monitor players for such patterns and indicators.
Lalit Modi on his tenure, meeting with ‘Baba’
Lalit said that his close scrutiny of suspicious activities and his refusal to compromise made him a target of organised crime groups. Reflecting on his tenure, he said, “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. And 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.” He further claimed that attempts were made to influence him through financial incentives, stating, “They offered me hundreds of millions of dollars to look the other way.”
Recounting an episode from 2012, Lalit described how a London-based fixer allegedly arranged a late-night meeting at a penthouse owned by a well-connected intermediary known as Baba. According to Lalit, the intermediary then used a satellite phone from the terrace to directly contact Dawood Ibrahim and put the call on speakerphone in an alleged effort to pressure him into helping secure an IPL franchise for the syndicate.
“I have not told this story to anybody… I’m called at 3.30 in the morning… He (fixer) says, ‘You have to come and meet this guy, Baba. And you have to come now.’ I thought maybe it’s something important. So I go to Baba’s house. There, he (Baba) says, ‘You have left India, we need an IPL team.’ I said I am not even in India. Why do you need an IPL team? Whoever wants to go and buy from someone can go buy it. Moreover, I’m not even going back to India; there is a Dawood problem there. To which he said, ‘I will fix it in a minute,'” Lalit shared.
“The intermediary then went out onto his terrace, took out a satellite phone, and allegedly dialled Dawood Ibrahim directly. “He goes on his terrace. He takes out his satellite phone and calls Dawood on the phone. Baba says, ‘Dawood bhai, Lalit bhai aaya hai. Baat karo.’ (Dawood Bhai, Lalit bhai has come. Talk to him.) I said I’m not talking. So he put the call on speaker. I again said, I’m not talking. And he (Dawood) simply says, ‘You are his friend, forget everything, it is all over,'” he added.
The former IPL chief further alleged that his refusal to give in to the demands led to a sustained campaign of pressure and intimidation that spanned multiple countries, eventually requiring the involvement of law enforcement agencies.
He claimed, “Bombay police recorded everything. It was chatter that came from the Bombay police. Bombay police put me on Z-security. I didn’t ask for it. All of a sudden, I had Z-security. There was a shootout outside my house in Bombay. There was a hit for me in Johannesburg. And I’m in Cape Town, which was picked up by the South African government. There was a hit on me in Montenegro, which was picked up at the Croatian border. My son was kidnapped in London on Sloane Street, right there… by a guy called Baba Avin. He lived on Park Street.”
Lalit alleged that tensions with the underworld intensified significantly after he managed to shift the second season of the IPL to South Africa. According to him, the move disrupted large-scale betting operations that had staked substantial sums on the tournament being cancelled or failing to take place, leading to increased hostility from the syndicates involved.
“They accused me of moving IPL to South Africa when they thought it was not going to move because they ate the bets up. So they lost a lot of money, apparently. So they wanted me to make good that money. I didn’t ask him to take the bet. I don’t have anything to do with it,” he recounted.
Lalit further alleged that the prolonged confrontation came to an end only after senior D-Company operative Chhota Shakeel publicly stated in a live interview that the syndicate had settled its differences with him. Explaining what he meant by that resolution, Lalit said it was his personal assurance that he would completely withdraw from cricket administration that ultimately ended the dispute and, according to him, ensured his safety.
“He (Chhota Shakeel) said we have resolved issues with Lalit Modi… I just said I will retire from cricket. I gave my word I would retire. It’s one of the biggest reasons. One of the biggest reasons. Why would I subject myself to media pressure, government pressure, and then life-threatening pressure?” Lalit stated.