Travel documents row: Lalit Modi's lawyer objects to ex-IPL chief being called an offender

The man in the middle of the controversy that has taken India by storm, former IPL chief Lalit Modi warned on Monday that it was his turn to 'get everything out there' saying that 'there will be many bombshells'.

New Delhi: Defending Lalit Modi to the hilt, his lawyer Mehmood M Abdi today took serious objection to calling the former IPL commissioner an "offender" since no court of law has declared him so.

 Lashing out at those using terms like "fugitive" and "offender" to describe Lalit Modi, he told a press meet that these were legal terms and can not be used too "loosely".

"It has to be decided by law. Which court has decided that Lalit Modi as offender and fugitive? He stays within knowledge of everyone in the United Kingdom," he said.

Stating that no blue corner notice was ever issued against Lalit Modi, he said "non-issues have been blown out of proportion."

Defending External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he said she had done only her duty and sought to know how cold some one be blamed for intervening on humanitarian grounds.

Seeking to turn the tables on Congress, he said Lalit Modi's passport case was argued in UPA's period and hence there is no conflict of interest though the final order came after the government change (last year).

Abdi claimed that in an RTI reply received on June 2010, it was said that Dawood Ibrahim group was monitoring the movement of Lalit Modi and were also following his daughter.
In May 2010 his security was withdrawn after which he left for the UK, he said.

Abdi blamed the Congress-led UPA Government for putting Lalit Modi in a "mess" and said those languishing in a "political wilderness" are attacking his client.

The lawyer said Lalit Modi's presence in Portugal was needed as his wife, who was suffering from cancer for the last 17 years, was undergoing treatment there and hence he travelled to that country.
Asked whether Lalit Modi had written any email to Swaraj, Abdi said "he might have written."

Defending Lalit Modi in the IPL case, Abdi said the charges against him are "procedural" in nature like mandatory RBI permission not obtained etc.

"He alone is not accused in these notices (issued in the case related to alleged financial irregularities in IPL editions). Chairman of ICC N Srinivasan and former BCCI President Shashank Manohar, too, have received notices but why only Lalit Modi is being made a scapegoat?" he said.

Asked why Swaraj was trying to save Lalit Modi, Abdi said, "Why should she save him and for what? She had done it (help in getting travel papers) for human considerations. It is a very small thing but why is it being blown out of proportion?" Abdi asked.

The lawyer also said he does not have any idea if the Foreign Minister had helped Lalit Modi at the instance of the PM.

"Attack on Lalit Modi is by people who are in political wilderness," he said.

"Shashi Tharoor, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid (all ministers in erstwhile UPA government) tried to scuttle his (Lalit Modi) chances of staying in UK by unduly interfering in legal process," Abdi said.

Lalit Modi came to know these facts through RTI application filed in the UK, the ex-IPL chief's counsel said.

They tried to harass him, but in the UK the tribunal found that his passport was illegally revoked (by India) and accepted his client's contention that he was being hounded, Abdi said.

Meanwhile, the man in the middle of the controversy that has taken India by storm, Lalit Modi, tweeted saying that he would reveal more tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has demanded Swaraj's resignation for helping Lalit Modi to obtain British travel documents.  

The genesis of the controversy was disclosure of emails showing that she had spoken to Indian-origin British MP Keith Vaz and its High Commissioner here James Bevan favouring the grant of travel documents to Lalit Modi to go to Portugal, purportedly for his wife's cancer treatment in June last year.

Modi, who is wanted in India, has made London his home since 2010 to avoid a probe for alleged foreign exchange regulation violations in the T20 cricket tournament held in South Africa in 2009. The previous UPA government had revoked his passport and had pressed for his extradition.

According to British media which quoted leaked emails, Vaz cited Swaraj's name to put pressure on UK's top immigration official to grant British travel papers to Lalit Modi, who subsequently got the documents in less than 24 hours.

Vaz also offered to help Swaraj's nephew Jyotirmay Kaushal to apply for a British law degree course, the report said.

After the reports surfaced, 63-year-old Swaraj said in a series of tweets that she had taken a "humanitarian view" and conveyed to the British High Commissioner that they should examine Modi's request as per their rules and "if the British government chooses to give travel documents to Lalit Modi that will not spoil our bilateral relations".

Facing opposition attack, Swaraj said, "What benefit did I pass on to Lalit Modi - that he could sign consent papers for surgery of his wife suffering from Cancer?... He was in London. After his wife's surgery, he came back to London. What is it that I changed?"

She also reportedly spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi explaining her position on the issue.

Opposition parties demanded her resignation, alleging grave impropriety on her part in helping a fugitive from law. Congress questioned even the role of the Prime Minister as to whether her action had his "tacit" endorsement.

However, the government, the BJP as well as RSS, strongly "justified" Swaraj's action yesterday and rejected resignation demands.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief Amit Shah asserted that she had done no wrong and only acted on "humanitarian" grounds.

(With PTI inputs)