No request received for extradition of Lalit Modi: MEA

The External Affairs Ministry today said it was yet to receive a request by agencies concerned for extradition of former IPL chairman Lalit Modi, facing charges of money laundering, from Britain.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said the MEA would take appropriate steps once the request is received.

“The extradition request in respect of Lalit Modi is yet to be received by the Ministry of External Affairs from the concerned law enforcement agencies in India,” he told Rajya Sabha in response to a question.

India recently had contacted Interpol and pressed its demand for an early notification of the Red warrant sought by the ED against Modi in connection with its money laundering case.

The ED, which is probing the case, recently got a court’s nod to begin extradition proceedings against Modi, whom it suspects to be based in the UK.

The extradition request was granted by a special court in Mumbai sometime back and it had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against Modi in the same case on the basis of which the ED wanted an Interpol RCN issued last year.

Modi has been denying any wrong doing as alleged by the ED which claimed that he cheated BCCI-IPL in granting overseas telecast rights of the cricket tournament in 2009.

The ED has been wanting Modi to “join investigations” in a case relating to Indian Premier League (IPL) after an FIR was registered against him and others under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In August last year, the agency had moved the Interpol to get an RCN issued against Modi but the international police body has not obliged it yet in this regard.

Interpol authorities, time and again, have sought additional information from ED investigators on their money laundering case against Modi as part of getting satisfactory grounds before finally processing the world-wide warrant against him.

The ED is probing Modi, the IPL and its executives for alleged violation of anti-money laundering laws after registering a criminal FIR in 2012.