Congress raking up Lalit Modi issue as diversionary tactic: BJP

A day after NDTV accessed correspondence between the United Progressive Alliance government and the British authorities to bring back Lalit Modi to India, a war of words has broken out between the Congress and the BJP over bringing back the disgraced cricket boss. Chidambaram in his letter on August 21, 2013 had also clarified that India was not seeking the extradition of Modi, but deportation.

Attacking the Congress for latching onto an “old and stale” issue which senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj had “exposed” in Parliament in the Monsoon Session, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said: “When Jaitley and Swaraj gave their replies, they had no answers”.

New Delhi: The Interpol has yet again sought additional information from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on its money laundering case against former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi as part of the process to issue a Red Corner Notice against him.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here, “The government should tell us when it will get Lalit Modi back to the country”. Both inside and outside Parliament, the Finance Minister and the External Affairs Minister have also maintained that the only option was to proceed with extradition of Lalit Modi. He said the government is rather helping Lalit Modi to escape the clutches of the Indian law and live a life of ultimate luxury.

In the letter to his U K counterpart, Chidambaram had specifically cited 2784 cases, where Emergency Certificates were issued to High Commission in five years up to 2013 and where deportation was done by United Kingdom authorities.

Both Jaitley and Swaraj had made a point in the parliament that the previous government was not serious about prosecuting Lalit Modi and had not made any efforts to bring him back. The letters show that the Indian government wanted deportation, which was a quick expeditious process, as against extradition.

Sources said the three letters written by then finance minister P Chidambaram to Osborne failed to make out a case for any offence that could result in a deportation as was being claimed by Congress. The references to cancellation of Modi’s passport also did not pass muster with United Kingdom law that held that is his entry was valid he could remain in the country till his visa was operational.

“The then Indian government pointed out the fact that Lalit Modi’s passport had been revoked and there was no reason to consider him differently. He himself admitted in parliament on August 12, 2015 that an FIR had been registered against Lalit Modi in 2010, which was converted into a Prevention of Money Laundering case in 2012”.