When the inaugural edition of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) — the state’s adaptation of the moneyspinning IPL — rolls in September, sitting in the team owners’ box could well be a reclusive gentleman once accused of links to Dawood Ibrahim, and who later claimed to have helped Indian spooks hunt the D-gang in Dubai.

Representatives of ‘reformed’ underworld don Muthappa Rai were among the 31 prospective buyers who picked up bid forms for the eight teams in the tournament from the office of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) chief and erstwhile Mysore royal Srikantadatta Wodeyar today.

Rai, who lives in a heavily fortified home on the outskirts of Bangalore, is rarely seen in public, and never without an army of personal securitymen. He claims to be a social worker and is known to ‘settle’ land disputes in the city. He was at one time linked to the D-Company, and extradited to India in 2002. In 2007, he was exonerated in all cases, including charges of murder.

Rai is widely expected to enter politics, and has floated an organization called Jaya Karnataka that has hundreds of cadres who claim to fight for the Kannada cause. He is reportedly keen on owning one of the KPL franchises, and naming it Jaya Karnataka Jawans.

Besides Rai, a jumble of Kannada filmstars, politicians, real estate barons, brewers and educationists are in the fray. It is learnt that actor-turned-politician M H Ambareesh — minister of state in the first UPA government and an old friend of Wodeyar’s from the races — is among them.

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