Lalit Modi refuses to comment on D-Company threat to Shashi Tharoor

Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi today sought to steer clear of the purported Dawood company threat to minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor and declined to comment.

"I would not like to comment," he said.

However, people close to him said there is a threat to Modi himself and he has been provided elaborate security by the government.

Modi and Tharoor are currently engaged in a bitter war of words over the ownership details of the Kochi franchisee, which will make its IPL debut next year.

Modi has alleged that the franchisee has hidden owners and claimed he was asked by Tharoor to not reveal the ownership pattern of the team in which the minister's friend Sunanda Pushkar also has a stake.

Tharoor later hit back at Modi saying that the IPL commissioner was trying to discredit Kochi by making such allegations.

A Tharoor aide today claimed that the minister has received threats from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim asking him to drop the team or face death.

Asked about Modi's association with other IPL teams Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, Modi's aides said, "Owners have come on merit and thier identities are known to everyone. But in case of Kochi, the person who signed the tender himself didn't know who the owners were."

Modi is speculated to have stakes in Rajasthan and Punjab through his relatives.