Oct. 21: Bollywood atress and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Shilpa Shetty is distressed by the BCCI’s decision to terminate the franchise and wants a “fair and balanced” inquiry into the allegations of irregular ownership pattern of her IPL team.
“It’s been a very distressing time for us all at RR after al we’ve put in (passion n time),” Shetty said in her tweets in the social networking site twitter.com.
Rajasthan Royals, winners of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), were expelled from the Twenty20 tournament last Sunday for alleged violations of rules, with seven years of their 10-year contract still to run.
The BCCI had said that Rajasthan violated the franchise agreement and there were irregularities in their ownership pattern.
However, Shilpa said it was untrue and the BCCI was fully aware about her husband Raj Kundra’s introduction in the franchise. “The only change to ownership was the introduction of my husband Raj Kundra, for which we had full BCCI permission and support at the time. Allegation is that our ownership has changed since 2008 is untrue,” she said.
“All we ask for is a fair and balanced hearing on the issues raised, given the adverse impact on “Brand IPL” in the interests of fans and teams,” she tweeted.