Kashmiri beautician Sunanda Pushkar, who is often seen with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor at social gatherings, is involved with a construction business in Dubai, and had been with her parents in Mathura recently.Pushkar, whose stake in the Kochi IPL team is valued at an estimated Rs 70 crore, belongs to a family from Bomai, 8 km from Sopore in the Kashmir Valley.
Pushkar's father, Lt Col (retd) P N Dass said that the family migrated to Jammu in 1990 after militants torched their home in the Valley, reports Indian Express.
He said Pushkar's first husband was a Kashmiri man who worked for a hotel in Delhi. Following a divorce, Pushkar went to Dubai, where she married again. Her second husband died in an accident in Delhi, he said.
Pushkar, a graduate of Government College for Women, Srinagar, has two brothers, one of whom works for a bank; the other is in the Army. Her father retired from the Army in 1983.
Who is Pushkar?
Why does she have “ free equity” to the tune of 4.9 per cent in Rendezvous? These are the questions that are doing the rounds of the cocktail circuit.
And Modi's cryptic remark in his reply to one of the responses to his Rendezvous tweet — “ I was told by him not to get into who owns Rendezvous. Specially Sunanda Pushkar.
Modi has not only publicly disclosed the names of some of the owners of the consortium that bought the franchisee for $333 million but has also alleged that he was told by Tharoor not to ask who these shareholders were.
This startling claim assumes significance since at the heart of the controversy is the reported 19% stake owned by Sunanda Pushkar in the 25% free equity owned by Rendezvous Sports World Pvt Ltd, the company that led the consortium that finally won the team. The value of Pushkar's stake is $15.82 million (about Rs 70 crore).
Pushkar is known to be close to Tharoor who, in fact, has been seen introducing her in social circles as his “fiancée.” Currently married — and in the process of separation — Tharoor had earlier said he only offered encouragement, blessings and expert advice to the Kochi bidders.
At the time of the announcement of the Kochi team, Tharoor had said: “Beyond that, I had no role to play. I understand it's a business decision.”When asked about the controversy this evening, Tharoor, who was at the India Habitat Centre to inaugurate an art show, refused to comment.The controversy heated up yesterday as emails went back and forth.
Modi, in an email sent to Shashank Manohar, president, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the members of the governing council of the board, alleged that the Kochi franchisee has “a lot to hide and as such have lied about who is the actual owner of the shares (in the consortium that bought the team).”
Modi also said in his email that “when I questioned who the shareholders were...they had no answer. In fact, they said we will revert back. Within minutes of me asking the same...I got a call from Shashi Tharoor asking me not to ask about who these shareholders are.”
The trigger for Modi's email was a complaint by Vivek Venugopal, co-owner of Kochi franchisee on behalf of all the consortium partners, seeking Manohar's intervention into what he termed as “a serious breach of trust” on the part of Modi.In an email sent to Manohar on April 11, Venugopal, who owns 1% stake in the franchisee, said while the board had signed a confidentiality contract with the team, Modi publicly disclosed “various vital aspects of the contract.”
“Information disclosed (by Modi) includes shareholding pattern of the consortium as well as shareholding patterns of various participating consortium member companies...In addition, we have been seeing various remarks by Mr Modi in the media and on Twitter, questioning the capability and the intentions of the consortium,” Venugopal wrote.
Venugopal said Modi had not disclosed such information about the other nine teams in the past ever and that's why it was shocking to see “this unethical behaviour coming from the Commissioner himself”.After receiving Venugopal's complaint, Manohar shot off an email to Modi the same day, in which he asked why no objections about shareholders' names and their backgrounds were raised at the time of accepting the bid by Rendezvous Sports.Lashing out at Modi, Manohar said: “Your making such statements is detrimental to the interests of the board.” And that he would take up the issue at the governing council meeting to be convened shortly.
Modi, however, denied the allegations and said it wasn't he but the Kochi team that was at fault. The Indian Express has seen the content of the emails in question. However, when contacted, Modi, Manohar and Venugopal refused to comment saying it was an internal matter and would be discussed with the parties concerned.
Rendezvous Sports, reportedly owned by Mumbai-based businessman Shailendra Gaikwad, has 26% equity in the franchisee, of which 25% has been awarded free to Kishan Gaikwad, Shailendra Gaikwad and Pushpa Gaikwad; Sunanda Pushkar, Puja Gulati, Jayant Kotalwar, Vishnu Mohan Prasad and Sundip Aggarwal.
The Indian Express report says out of the 1,000 shares allotted to the “free” equity owners, 190 have been awarded to Pushkar; 24 to Gulati, 16 to Kotalwar, eight each to Aggarwal and Prasad; 377 to Kishan, 376 to Pushpa and 1 to Shailendra Gaikwad.The other shareholders of the team include: Anchor Earth (27%), Film Waves (12%), Parinee Developers (26%), Anand Shah Developers (8%) and Vivek Venugopal (1%).
Modi, in his Twitter message on April 11, said: “Who are the shareholders of Rendezvous. And why have they been given this 100s of million dollar bonanza.”When contacted, Keshav T of Rosy Blue Diamond, which backs Film Waves, said: “There is a component of sweat equity given to Rendezvous as they were the ones who put together the consortium and will be full-time working partners. “ (with Manoj CG)
