Special court issues non-bailable warrant against Lalit Modi in response to ED plea
MUMBAI:M A Mumbai court issued a non-bailable warrant against former IPL boss Lalit Modi oon Wednesday on charges of money laundering following an Enforcement Directorate plea after the ex-cricket administrator didn’t respond to summons.
Sources said the home ministryi would execute the warrant through diplomatic channels and send it to the United Kingdom, where Modi is based. India and the UK have an agreement to support each other for the execution of warrants for people who are accused in each other’s territories, they added.
“We have served him summons thrice through various modes, but he has not responded to it. Hence we have no other option but to seek warrant against him,” ED lawyer Hiten Venegoankar told the special court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Modi found himself in the headlines recently after revelations that foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje helped him get UK papers at a time when the ED was investigating him on corruption charges. The Opposition has been demanding the removal of Raje and Swaraj, forcing repeated adjournments in Parliament’s ongoing monsoon session.
“Though the summons were sent and served, the accused Lalit Kumar Modi has not responded. It reveals from the record that the accused is now residing in the UK. As he has not responded to summons, warrant is to be issued against him,” the court said.
The agency moved the court on July 27 for the warrant, saying it would enable investigators to ensure Modi was brought back to India because he had been evading questions since 2010, when he left India following a spate of corruption allegations.
In December 2012, the ED registered a case against Modi and others for alleged discrepancies in connection with awarding broadcast rights for the IPL tournament.
He was instrumental in setting up the cash-rich Indian Premier League that transformed the country’s cricket viewing habits and unlocked crores of rupees in broadcasting rights and revenue for the BCCI but also attracted multiple charges of money laundering, which he has consistently denied.
Enforcement Directorate officers are probing allegations that proceeds from a TV deal were funnelled to unauthorised beneficiaries in Singapore and Mauritius.
The agency said in October 2010, then secretary of the BCCI, N Srinivasan, forwarded a complaint of cheating and conspiracy against Modi with the Chennai Police. As soon as the police completed their investigation and filed a report, the ED began its investigation.