Former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has withdrawn from a Rs 1,650 crore investment project in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, amid controversy surrounding the supposedly “free” allocation of land to his company.
The company, Ceylon Beverage Can Pvt. Ltd. which had been granted nearly 26 acres of land, will now relocate the proposed bottling and can manufacturing plant to Pune, officials confirmed.
The withdrawal follows mounting criticism from opposition lawmakers in Jammu and Kashmir, who questioned why land was given “free of cost” to an outsider while local applicants were denied land for housing under the Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana (PMAY).
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was reportedly rocked by the issue, with CPM legislator Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami and Congress’ G.A. Mir alleging irregularities in the allotment process.
“Land has to be allotted as per the laid norms to any person whosoever applies for land for commercial purposes,” said CPM legislator Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, suggesting that no money had been charged from Muralitharan’s company for the land. Mir called the matter "serious," questioning why a non-Indian cricketer was granted land without spending a penny.
However, official records contradict these claims, showing that the land was priced at ₹64 lakh per acre, with an annual lease of ₹60,000. Despite this, the deal remained controversial, with critics questioning why such incentives were being extended to Muralitharan’s company while local businesses faced bureaucratic hurdles.
While the controversy unfolded, it was revealed that Muralitharan’s company had already applied to withdraw from the investment proposal on March 6, citing the expiration of incentives under the 2021 National Sector Industrial Policy.
Under the 2021 Industrial Development Scheme, companies investing in Jammu and Kashmir were eligible for subsidies on capital investment, GST rebates, and financial assistance for working capital loans. However, these incentives expired in September 2024, and the Union Territory government’s request for an extension has not been approved by the Indian central government.
Without these incentives, Muralitharan’s company opted to shift its project to Pune, where financial benefits were reportedly more stable.
Though Muralitharan is ethnically Tamil, he has been a long-standing supporter of Sinhala nationalist politics in Sri Lanka, aligning himself with leaders accused of war crimes against Tamils.
During the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential elections, Muralitharan publicly backed Gotabaya Rajapaksa, despite Rajapaksa’s role in overseeing the massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils during the final phase of the war in 2009. Muralitharan has previously claimed that he “did not have any problems as a Tamil” and dismissed British Prime Minister David Cameron’s concerns about Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses as being “misled”.
He has also been critical of Tamil Nadu’s support for Sri Lankan Tamils, stating, “If there is a problem within your family, do your neighbours interfere? Tamil Nadu politicians do not understand the problems of Sri Lankans.”
In 2020, he sparked further outrage when he compared Mahinda Rajapaksa to Nelson Mandela, despite Mahinda’s role in the brutal military offensive against Tamils. His political affiliations have made him deeply unpopular among Tamils in the North-East, with local councillors criticising him for “undermining the struggles” of Tamil families seeking justice for their disappeared loved ones.