Rajasthan Royals Ownership Row: Somani Group Plans Legal Action After ₹15,660 Cr Deal Collapse

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) ownership story isn’t over yet. Just one day after news of a ₹15,660 crore takeover by the Mittal family and Adar Poonawalla, a new issue has come up. The Kal Somani-led group, which was earlier close to buying the team, is now thinking about taking legal action against RR.

As reported by Cricbuzz, the US-based group is now looking at its options after the deal collapsed at the final stage. From the outside, it looked alright that the Kal Somani-led consortium deal couldn’t go through and hence the Mittal family and Adar Poonawalla jumped to catch the fish.

According to Cricbuzz, the Somani group believes the process was not handled fairly from RR’s part and has already initiated internal discussions. “We have had calls this morning with legal and PR in the USA. We are deciding on our PR. A legal letter will be sent today,” a source close to Somani said.

RR Ownership Row: Somani Group Considers Legal Action After Deal Collapse

The consortium, which included Rob Walton and the Hamp family of the Detroit Lions, was reportedly close to finalizing a ₹15,300 crore deal before talks broke down. While all the reports on Sunday suggested that the group failed to complete the payment within an agreed exclusivity window, the US side has pushed back strongly on that narrative.

“They slow-dragged it. They continued negotiations in good faith until the last second. With the Walton and Hamp families behind him, money was never an issue,”  the source claimed. 

The Somani group was reportedly not in favour of Manoj Badale continuing in a significant role, which perhaps became a sticking point. “We had queries such as whether the BCCI dues were paid. We wanted to know the status of legal cases. There were 100s of such questions. From our end we have been ready to close for 10 days. There was deliberate delay and then side dealings“.

The report adds that the group may soon send a formal communication to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. They are also deciding whether to make the issue public while moving ahead with legal action. Despite the noise around the collapsed deal, the new agreement involving the Mittal family and Adar Poonawalla remains in place for now. In fact, both the parties have shared releases on the internet. 

RR ownership structure after the deal is finalized