राजीव शुक्ला की कंपनी में शाहरूख के 10 करोड़

आईपीएल के विवाद में कई बड़े नाम फंसते जा रहे हैं. एनसीपी और भाजपा के बाद अब कांग्रेस भी आईपीएल विवाद में फंस गई है. कोलकाता नाइटराइडर्स के मालिक शाहरुख खान और उनकी पत्नी गौरी ने कांग्रेस सांसद और आईपीएल गवर्निंग कौंसिल के सदस्य राजीव शुक्ला की कंपनी में 10 करोड़ रुपए का निवेश किया हुआ है. ”बैग ग्लैमर” नाम की इस मीडिया कंपनी में निवेश उसी समय किया गया, जब जनवरी-फरवरी 2008 को आईपीएल के पहले सीजन के लिए बोली खत्म होने वाली थी.

भास्कर समूह व जी ग्रुप के संयुक्त अंग्रेजी दैनिक डीएनए का कहना है कि शाहरुख को निवेश के बदले कंपनी में 10 फीसदी इक्विटी मिली. ”बैग ग्लैमर” असल में बैग फिल्म्स एंड मीडिया लिमिटेड की 100 फीसदी सहायक कंपनी है. इसे राजीव शुक्ला की पत्नी अनुराधा संचालित करती हैं. इस प्रकरण में कुछ सवाल उठाए जा रहे हैं, जो इस प्रकार हैं-

• शाहरुख ने आईपीएल के लिए फ्रेंचाइजी की बोली खत्म होने से पहले पैसा क्यों लगाया?

• उन्होंने एक ऐसी कंपनी में निवेश क्यों किया, जो भारी घाटे में थी. 2007-08 में कंपनी का घाटा 90 करोड़ रु. था, जो 2009 में बढ़कर 400 करोड़ रु. तक पहुंच गया.

• निवेश क्या इसलिए किया गया, क्योंकि राजीव शुक्ला आईपीएल की उस गर्वनिंग कौंसिल के सदस्य भी हैं, जो फ्रेंचाइजी बांटती है.

इस प्रकरण पर डीएनए में जो खबर प्रकाशित हुई है, वह इस प्रकार है–

Now Congress slips on IPL muck, SRK link with Rajiv Shukla emerges

The first Congress link in the IPL scandal seems set to emerge. Film star Shah Rukh Khan, who is already under scrutiny by the taxman, seems to have been a significant investor in BAG Glamour, a company owned by Rajiv Shukla, a Congress Rajya Sabha member and member of the Indian Premier League’s governing council.

Documents available with DNA show that Shah Rukh Khan and wife Gauri, owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders, invested around Rs10 crore in the media company owned by Shukla and his wife in the financial year 2007-08, when the bidding for the IPL franchises took place.

The evidence is that the Khans invested Rs10 crore and picked up 10% equity in BAG Glamour, a subsidiary of BAG Films & Media Limited.

Since BAG Glamour is a cent per cent subsidiary of BAG Films, nothing much is known about the other investors.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong in Khan and his wife investing in the company owned by the Shuklas.

What is strange is the timing: the Khans invested Rs10 crore in the company owned by Shukla’s wife Anuradha Prasad in January-February 2008, precisely when the bidding process for IPL-I was ending.

The Khans got the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise in January 2008 through their company Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited, which is owned by Gauri Khan.

Apart from the timing, another strange aspect that drew the interest of the investigators was the fact that the Khans chose to invest in a company that was registering heavy losses.

BAG Films incurred a loss of over Rs90 crore during financial year 2007-08. Documents show that the cumulative losses of BAG Films and its subsidiary had touched Rs400 crores until March 2009.

Further, Rajiv Shukla is not some minor official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) but the chairman of its finance committee and member of the IPL governing council. It is the governing council that awarded the IPL franchises to the various owners, including Khan.

A source in the BCCI said Shukla never disclosed his “conflict of interest”.

When IPL-I was launched in 2008, none smelt a rat in the friendship between Shukla and Khan. It was Shukla who introduced the superstar to the Gandhis. Riding on his success and flush with funds, Khan was looking for investment opportunities and the IPL came in handy.

It looks like the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance government it heads are going to face a lot of heat on Monday as Shukla seems to be the first Congress leader to emerge as a direct beneficiary of the IPL.