IPL tax raid: mystery woman removes papers

New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, income tax sources have told CNN-IBN that CCTV footage has shown a woman taking bid documents from IPL commissioner Lalit Modi's office at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, just 30 minutes before they carried out searches there on Thursday.

According to other media reports, a senior I-T official, on condition of anonymity, said the woman had already been identified but her name could not be divulged. The official added that the woman was someone who was very closely associated with one of the eight original IPL franchisees.

The officials were certain that the papers, documents and electronic data were kept in a room on the 33rd floor, but they found nothing relevant. The I-T sleuths had entered the hotel at 4:30 pm, just half hour after the woman left with a laptop and a bag of files.

Meanwhile, the IT department is likely to finish its IPL scrutiny on Saturday. Sources have told CNN-IBN that notices are likely to be issues to all IPL franchisees next week.

The I-T department had asked for the bid documents from Lalit Modi's office. While Modi had provided them with some, the officials were still waiting for the remaining documents.