Nov. 25: Suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi on Thursday said his ouster as the IPL boss was part of a witch-hunt by people who are “jealous of his success” and that he will return to India only when he is convinced of his security.

In his first major interview since his unceremonious exit, Modi defended himself of any wrong doing and said his family and friends had invested in IPL teams only because nobody else was convinced with the concept. In the lengthy interview, Modi spoke of how people with vested interest in the BCCI tried to pull him down and how he had spent money from his own pocket to make the IPL a huge success.

“I can very clearly tell you that I have not pocketed any money from the IPL. I created something out of nothing. The BCCI had benefited, will benefit in the next ten years in excess of $2 billion. This is something of an initiative that I took on my own, as an honorary member and I did not do it for myself, and the benefit 100 per cent accrued to the BCCI,” the former IPL commissioner said.

“What I did is absolutely by the book. Currently whatever is on is like a witch hunt and you know I’d rather not comment on it. There’s a lot of jealousy all around, and it was more than meets the eye. There are vested groups out there trying to take control, and there is more to it, but I’d rather not get into that right now,” he added. The combative Modi said that his security advisors have instructed him not to return to India because of death threat. “I will return to India as and when I feel secure,” he said.

Modi also made it clear that he had never intended to get former Minister of States for external affairs Shashi Tharoor sacked but had only wanted to bring the truth out. “I’m sorry that it happened, but at the end of the day you’ve got to understand that the events leading to Kochi are still sub judice. I wouldn’t like to at this point in time get into the nitty gritties and the details of what actually happened,” he said.

Modi said BCCI was aware about the entire bidding process including that some of his relatives were involved. “When somebody turns around and says that they didn’t know about it, it’s absolutely a false story ...I mean everybody concerned from the governing council to the BCCI members, were very present in the room, and everybody was happy at that point in time,” he said.

Modi denied the allegations that he influenced the bid process as he wanted Adani Group and Videocon to win the franchisees for season-IV.

“How do you rig the process? It’s an open bid, it’s a tender process, you put the tender in, highest person wins, if that was the case why did Adani not win? Why did Videocon not win? Sahara went and won it for $370 million because it was an open process. Kochi went and won. If it was going to be a rigged process they (Adani and Videocon) would have won.”

On the controversial IPL television rights deal with World Sports Group,Modi said, “When we went out to market the rights of IPL you’d be surprised there was one bidder, and that one bidder was World Sports Group. Sony actually bid and withdrew their bid prior to the bids even opening. ESPN bid, but they’d put zero number on the table so that their bid was disqualified,” Modi said.