India tax officials raid IPL HQ: reports

MUMBAI, April 17, 2010: Indian income tax officials on Thursday raided the offices of the Indian Premier League as controversy mounted over the ownership of a new cricket team, local media reported.

The Economic Times newspaper and the NDTV network reported on their websites that the raids on the Mumbai headquarters of the multi-billion-dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) were staged to probe the funding sources of the IPL teams.

Income tax and IPL officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Junior Indian foreign minister Shashi Tharoor, 54, has been in the eye of a storm since the weekend when news broke that a friend - said by Indian media to be his girlfriend - had been given a free stake in a new IPL franchise.

He has denied allegations of impropriety.

- AFP