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Who is Lalit Modi?
Lalit Modi is a fugitive Indian businessman and cricket administrator who founded the Indian Premier League. He is also a former Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and is currently dating Bollywood actor and Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen. He is the president and managing director of Modi Enterprises and the executive director of Godfrey Phillips India. Life and education Modi was born on November 29, 1963, in Delhi. He hails from one of India's leading business families and is the elder son of Krishan Kumar Modi and his wife, Bina Modi. His grandfather had established the Modi Group business conglomerate and Modinagar town. Modi has studied at Shimla's Bishop Cotton School and St Joseph's College in Nainital. He studied electrical engineering and business administration in the US from 1983-1986. While he attended Pace University in New York for two years and Duke University in North Carolina for one year, he did not graduate from any of these. Modi was arrested in 1985 for charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, assault and second-degree kidnapping. He was later suspended for a two-year prison sentence and was placed under five-year probation. He returned to India in 1986 and joined the family business. In October 1991, Modi married Minal Sagrani, the daughter of a Nigeria-based Sindhi Hindu businessman. They moved to Mumbai after marriage. The couple has two children – son Ruchir Modi and daughter Aliya. Minal died in 2018 due to cancer. Modi, in July 2022, announced that he was dating Bollywood actor Sushmita Sen. Career He joined the family business in 1986 after returning to Delhi. In 1987, he joined the International Tobacco Company Limited and served as its president till 1991. In 1989, Modi became Non-Executive and Non-Independent Director at Godfrey Phillips India. In February 1992, he became the executive director of Godfrey Phillips India and served until August 2010. Modi set up Modi Entertainment Networks (MEN) in 1993, but it became unprofitable after a few years. He later became the President and managing director of Modi Enterprises. In 1999, he got elected to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association but was later forced to leave the association. He was elected vice-president of the Punjab Cricket Association in 2004 and retained the position till 2008. He became the president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association in 2005, and in the same year, he also became the vice-president of BCCI. He was heavily invested in the commercial side of the BCCI as the association's revenues increased sevenfold, touching the $1 billion mark between 2005 and 2008. He launched the Indian Premier League in 2008. In 2010, he was suspended from BCCI for money laundering, bid rigging, not following proper processes, and bypassing the governing council while taking decisions, among other charges. Modi moved to London soon after he was suspended and expanded his family business in Europe.