Commonwealth Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1982	Chandler Sports Hall, Brisbane, Australia	Nick Yates	7–15, 15–6, 15–5	Gold

Asian Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1982	Indraprastha Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, India	Han Jian	1–15, 2–15	Bronze

IBF International

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1981	German International	Misbun Sidek	17–18, 10–15	Runner-up
1983	Austrian International	Tariq Farooq	15–5, 15–2	Winner
1984	Austrian International	Vitaliy Shmakov	15–2, 15–6	Winner
1985	USSR International	Andrey Antropov		Winner

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1983	Austrian International	Pradeep Gandhe	Leroy D'Sa Partho Ganguli	8–15, 13–18	Runner-up

Invitational Tournaments

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1978	Asian Invitational Championships	Capital Indoor Stadium Peking, China	Prakash Padukone	Lin Shiquan Tang Xianhu	3–15, 5–15	Silver

Marriage

In 1978, while he was a junior national champion, the 16-year-old Modi was selected for participating in an international tournament to be held in Beijing, China. A girl badminton player of his own age named Ameeta Kulkarni was in the women's team, and, as the Supreme Court would later record, "there arose intimacy between the two."^[5] While Modi was a Muslim from north India, Ameeta was a Hindu from Maharashtra, had grown up in cosmopolitan Mumbai and came from an affluent, upper-class English-educated family, very different from Modi's own background. Both families were stridently opposed to marriage between Modi and Ameeta, not just because of the vast chasm in their backgrounds, but also because they anticipated that professional issues, jealousies, and oneupmanship would also become major factors in a marriage between two ambitious, target-oriented, over-achieving individuals. Indeed, the families remained opposed to the marriage even to the bitter end. However, Modi and Ameeta were adamant and got married in a registry office in a hastily arranged ceremony.

As soon as they had had their way and married each other, the couple began having problems. Behavioural expectations and professional jealousies have been identified conclusively, but religious issues have also been hinted at in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report.^[6] Most important of all was the involvement of a third person. This was Sanjay Sinh, an immensely rich man, a classmate and friend of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and a prominent politician belonging to the ruling Congress party. Ameeta and Sanjay Sinh had come in contact with each other in 1984, under circumstances that are not clear. Sanjay Singh was a married man with two children, and Ameeta also had been married for several years to Modi, although they had no children yet. Modi began to suspect that his wife was having an affair with Singh, and for reasons that are unclear, Ameeta seems to have chosen to feed his fears rather than allay them. Knowing that Modi sometimes read her personal diary when she was away from home, Ameeta used to "tease" him by writing details of her relationship with Sanjay Singh in that diary. After Modi was murdered, the diary fell into the hands of the police, and Ameeta explained the incriminating contents of the dairy in the following words:

I had used my flight of imagination to write certain things in the diary only to tease him. Modi had read every line I had written. And every time I wanted to tease him I used to refer to the diary. Had it been a record of my affair with anybody, I was not dumb enough to retain it so that the CBI could build up a case. I could have easily concealed it in any one of the 17 days after the murder when the CBI raided my house and found it.^[7]

Matters came to a head when Ameeta became pregnant. According to the CBI report, Modi suspected that the child was not his, but was the result of Ameeta's affair with Singh. His wife did not feel disposed to allay these fears, and went to her parents' house in Mumbai for her confinement. A girl child was born in May 1988 and Ameeta gave her the Hindu name Aakanksha.^[8] She then left the infant with her parents in Mumbai and returned to Lucknow, supposedly in order to continue with her badminton practice and get back into form as soon as possible. Modi resented all of these circumstances, while Ameeta resented the fact that her badminton career was put on hold, while Syed continued to rack up titles, winning his eighth consecutive national trophy in 1987. However, personal issues had in fact taken a toll on Modi's sporting performance. He had recently lost the national trophy (1988), after having won it eight times in a row from 1980 to 1987.

Murder

Two months after the birth of his daughter, Syed Modi was murdered. On the evening of 28 July 1988, at the age of 25, Modi was shot dead as he was coming out of KD Singh Babu stadium, Lucknow after a routine practice. A brilliant career was cut short and a severe blow was dealt to badminton in India as Modi was touted to be a superstar like Prakash Padukone.^[1]

The scandal surrounding Modi's murder attracted worldwide attention.^[9] Seven were named in a chargesheet following a CBI probe, including Modi's wife Ameeta and her future husband, Sanjaya Sinh who were allegedly suspected of getting Syed murdered due to their extra-marital affair, but the case against Ameeta Modi and Sanjay Singh – for conspiracy – was dropped, and Akhilesh Singh and Jitendra Singh were separately exonerated. Sanjaya Sinh and Ameeta Modi later got married. Two of the other accused – Amar Bahadur Singh and Balai Singh – died before their involvement could be judged. Bhagwati Singh was found guilty of murder and possessing illegal arms, fined and sentenced to life imprisonment.^{[2][10][11][12][13]} The brutal murder^[14] left a wound in the public psyche.^[15] The CBI arrested Modi's adulterous wife and her lover within days of the murder,^[16] but the investigation was then scuttled by the government, according to retired investigating officers.^[17] The evidence included letters written by Ameeta's mother, regarding the paternity of Aakanksha, and also letters written during the engagement of Syed Modi and Ameeta in 1984 and later a letter where Syed Modi threatened to commit suicide.^[18]

Aftermath

Shortly after being released for lack of evidence, Modi's widow, Ameeta, married her long-time lover, Sanjay Singh. This marriage received sensational reportage in the press and became front-page news in India. Sanjay Singh's wife, Garima Singh, read of the wedding in the newspapers and filed a case in court stating that she had never been divorced from her husband and praying that the court declare his second marriage invalid (due to bigamy) and order restitution of her conjugal rights. Investigation revealed that Sanjay Singh had obtained a decree of divorce by stating a wrong address as his wife's residence. He had given the address of one of his several houses for that purpose, although Garima had not lived in that house for many years. The court had sent notice after notice to the wrong address, had received no response, and had granted an ex-parte divorce because the respondent had not appeared in court despite repeated summons. It appears that the court notices had been received at the wrong address by an associate of Sanjay Singh and had then been simply destroyed.

After Garima Singh filed her case, the sessions court heard the matter and, following a police report, set aside the order of divorce, thus invalidating the marriage of Sanjay Singh and Ameeta Modi. However, no criminal proceedings could be initiated against Sanjay Singh, because Garima Singh had in fact lived in the said house during the early years of her marriage, and it was not wholly impossible that she had received and ignored the summons. It was her word against his. Sanjay Singh then filed an appeal in the High Court, as also a fresh plea for divorce in the district court. Both of these cases are still pending in the courts over 20 years later (as of 2016). Meanwhile, Ameeta Modi and Sanjay Singh have been cohabiting for all intents and purposes as husband and wife. They have no children except Aakanksha, who has been formally adopted by Sanjay Singh.

Due to the sensational revelations and public and legal shenanigans, Sanjay Singh had to take a prolonged sabbatical from his political career. However, he not only returned to politics but also introduced Ameeta into the field. Modi's widow has stood for election to the state assembly from Amethi, which was formerly ruled by Sanjay Singh's family.