The Enforcement Directorate on Monday approached a Mumbai sessions court seeking a non-bailable arrest warrant against former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, following his refusal to join investigations in an alleged money laundering case despite repeated summons.
The court is yet to take a decision on the Directorate’s request for the warrant, which would enable the agency to obtain an Interpol red-corner notice against Mr. Modi and seek his extradition from the United Kingdom.
The Mumbai ED initially sent a notice to Mr. Modi’s Mumbai-based attorney seeking his personal appearance on queries pertaining to the contract awarded for BCCI-IPL media rights in 2009. However, it is alleged that the notice was returned in three days. The Directorate then sent the notice to Mr. Modi on his email address and also dispatched it to his last known Mumbai address.
While the agency said legally valid summons were served, Mr Modi on Sunday claimed that he had not yet received any such notice. He instead advised the Directorate to send the notice through the “international process”.
“As the Enforcement Directorate has not yet served me the notice to appear - I will tomorrow (Sunday) share intl[international] process,” tweeted Mr. Modi, stating that he would happily answer the summons if served on him abroad. The ED is pursuing 17 cases against Mr. Modi and other former BCCI-IPL officials under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The agency has summoned Mr. Modi in the case registered in December 2012 on the basis of an FIR filed by the former BCCI chief N. Srinivasan with the Chennai Police in October 2010, accusing him of embezzlement in awarding the contract.
