"He told me, we can only protect you for 12 hours'" - Lalit Modi claims death threats from Dawood Ibrahim forced him to leave India

Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi has claimed that death threats from gangster Dawood Ibrahim forced him to leave India suddenly in 2010. He denied all allegations of fleeing the country due to corruption charges.

Shortly after IPL 2010 ended, the former league commissioner was suspended by the BCCI over accusations of misconduct, indiscipline, and financial irregularities. Even as the cricket board launched an investigation against him, and eventually banned him for life, Modi shifted base to London.

Speaking on Raj Shamani's podcast Figuring Out, the 60-year-old claimed that he did not quit India due to allegations of financial irregularities, but due to death threats from fugitive gangster Dawood. He said:

"I did leave the country when there was a death threat to me. There was no legal case to start with. Dawood Ibrahim made the threat to me first after IPL-1 because I was also anti-corruption. I didn’t allow any...I was a very strict anti-corruption commissioner."

Detailing the manner of his exit from India, which sounded like a script from a thriller movie, Modi said:

"My personal bodyguard on the plane told me to use the back entrance at the airport. Himanshu Roy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, was there. He told me, ‘Lalit, we cannot protect you anymore. We’ve been given orders by the Center. There will be a hit on you, and we can only protect you for the next 12 hours'.

"I need(ed) to leave the country that night. It was decided with the powers that be, except the Congress people everybody else was in the loop. We had to pull the strings to get me out without being stamped out," he went on to add.

The former IPL chairman made another stunning claim when he said that since his motorcade was followed by the media, it left in one direction with somebody dressed as him from the garage of the Four Season Hotel in Mumbai and went towards the Taj. A friend of his and a political friend (who was a minister then in the central government) then picked him up and put him in the back of the Range Rover, and he went through the airport.

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"There was a hit on me in Montenegro, my son was even kidnapped in the UK" - Lalit Modi

During the podcast, Modi also claimed that there were multiple assassination attempts made on him, including in South Africa, Thailand, and Montenegro. The IPL founder elaborated:

“Chhota Shakeel has already gone on record and given a live interview that they resolved issues with me. But there was a hit on me in Montenegro, my son was even kidnapped in the UK. They offered big money...money you wouldn’t refuse. I refused. I was out of the game. I left in 2010, corruption began."

Modi went on to point out that during his tenure as IPL commissioner, there was no incident of corruption or fixing. He also alleged that a huge betting racket exists in cricket controlled by Dawood.

"Betting is huge, it’s a $2 billion game. Betting is illegal today and was illegal at that time. The books are controlled by Dawood Ibrahim. I didn’t know this initially. I took a very strict stand, and I became the target," he claimed.

Meanwhile, the 2025 IPL mega auction was held recently in Jeddah, with 182 players sold (62 overseas) and a total of ₹639.15 crore spent.