KPH Dream Cricket Pvt. Ltd, the owners and promoter of the IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab, has filed a criminal complaint against its title sponsor, NVD Solar Ltd and its officials, for “cheating and duping” them of around Rs. 14 crore which they were supposed to pay as per the contract.
The KXIP has also issued a legal notice to the company, one of India’s leading solar equipment makers, for bouncing four cheques of Rs. 25 lakh each tendered by NVD India to KPH.
Kings XI Punjab’s co-owner and noted industrialist Ness Wadia told PTI that they have been left with no other option but to take a legal recourse against NVD Solar Ltd and its Managing Director Saibal Hazra.
“It’s a full blown scam. They cheated us of our hard-earned money. They gave us fake accounts of Deutsche Bank London, Wells Fargo Bank New York, Common Suisse Bank Limited, fake swift message, fake names of officials, even sent us mails from fake IP addresses. It’s crazy. They always said we will pay you on a certain date but what we got is only fake assurances,” said Mr. Wadia.
“A sponsorship deal was struck between NVD Group and Kings XI Punjab in March for Rs. 14.30 crore. So far, we have only received a sum of Rs. 42 lakh (Rs. 32 lakh via electronic funds transfer and Rs. 10 lakh through a cheque). That means, they owe us Rs. 13.88 crore. They are actually thug no.1,” added Mr. Wadia.
NVD Group officials could not be reached for their comments on the issue.
A three-year sponsorship deal was struck between NVD Group and Kings XI Punjab on March 1, 2013, till 2015 to replace DTH operator Videocon as the lead sponsor. The deal comprised of the NVD group taking up the title sponsorship as well as the right chest sponsorship of the team for a sum of Rs. 14.30 crores for IPL 6. KXIP has signed NVD Solar as title partner for three years till 2015 to status for last year’s IPL.
