In a relief to the beleaguered former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has came out in his support, saying that he could not be called as an absconder when he was not convicted even for a small offence. Party leader and senior advocate Majeed Memon also alleged that BCCI chief N. Srinivasan wanted to destroy Mr Modi’s career due to personal vendetta.
“What has surfaced so far is that whenever Lalit Modi was called by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in their notice quoting, ‘You appear on an appointed day either in person or through your counsel or representative,’ his advocates appeared before the investigating agency,” Mr Memon said. “Mr Modi can’t be called an absconder when he was not convicted even for the smallest offence,” the legal expert added.
He referred to the opinion of two former Supreme Court judges — Jeevan Reddy and S.B. Sinha that had supported Mr Modi in the UK travel document case. “Both the judges were of the view that ED has no right to declare him absconder and seize his passport. It was unfair on their part,” Mr Memon pointed out.
In was reported that justice S.B. Sinha’s view was that Modi’s passport revocation order was challengeable while justice Jeevan Reddy opined that the order was improper.
“For personal vendetta, Mr Srinivasan wanted to damage Mr Modi’s career, as he was jealous of him. It was Mr Modi who introduced Indian Premier League (IPL) and took Indian cricket at new heights of success,” the NCP leader said.
He further said that law would take its own course and if he (Mr Modi) was involved in violation of any income tax rules, foreign exchanges regulation Act or money laundering Act then he must be probed. “NCP chief Sharad Pawar too has, in the past, said that Mr Modi should be given a chance to defend himself.”
