New Delhi: IPL's controversial former chief Lalit Modi on Tuesday made explosive claims that Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje had supported in writing his immigration plea in Britain and that he has a 'family' relationship with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Modi made the statements while giving an interview to a news channel.
While claiming innocence, the ex-IPL chief said he has been "over criticised" and "taken to task" by the former UPA government.
Holidaying in the tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro, Modi told the TV channel, "At the end I have done nothing wrong. I've gone by book... I have been over criticised, have been taken to task by the (UPA) government for no reason for all."
Modi said in the interview that Raje had accompanied his wife to Portugal for her cancer treatment two years ago. Raje became chief minister of Rajasthan for the second time in December 2013.
The comments of the tainted former IPL commissioner assume significance because it came hours after it was reported that Raje had given a "Witness Statement" in August 2011 to British authorities supporting his case for immigration in Britain which he has made his base after fleeing from India where he faces serious charges of money laundering and FEMA violations.
Raje's purported "Witness Statement" was made public earlier in the day on behalf of the Modi camp but later the Rajasthan chief minister said she was not aware of this document.
"Of course I know the family. I have always known them...(But) I do not know what documents they are talking about," she told reporters in Jaipur.
In the interview Modi said, "My relationship with Vasundhara Raje goes back 30 years. That relationship is known to everybody.
She is a close friend of the family and my wife for a long time...She openly agreed to be (to be a witness), but unfortunately by the time the case went to trial, she was already chief Minister, so she did not come to become a witnes. The statements she gave is all on records in the courts."
"Raje and Sushma supported me when my wife was sick," he said.
"It was a family, a legal whatever you may call it. We were very close. But the point is not that...I am very close to a lot of politicians, not only Mrs Swaraj...," Modi said when asked about his relationship with Sushma Swaraj.
The ex-IPL chief maintained that the entire UPA government was against him.
Modi added that former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram tried to deport him to India.
He challenged the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prove charges against him and said "Swarajs" have been his friends for over 20 years, and that Vasundhara Raje is a "family friend".
Asked if he was cool about Swaraj possibly losing her job because of her support to him, he said: "I am not perfectly cool and calm about someone doing an honest losing their job. (Shashi) Tharoor lost job because he lied. He lied he had nothing to do with the Kochi team..."
He said he could have given up his right as Indian citizen and taken another citizenship but he did not do so because he wanted to prove that his passport was taken wrongly.
Modi also said Swaraj's daughter Bansuri has been his lawyer for four years.
"I am close to a lot of politicians," he added.
"Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel also helped me with travel papers... Rajiv Shukla also helped me with travel documents," he said.
With her name being linked to the Lalit Modi controversy, the Rajasthan CM tonight seemed to distance herself from a document purportedly showing her backing former IPL chief Immigration plea in Britain.
"Of course I know the family. I have always known them...(But) I do not know what documents they are talking about," she said.
Asked if there was a media trial against her, she said "that is left for you to decide."
(With Agency inputs)
