ED stumps Lalit Modi, revokes his passport

The regional passport office in Mumbai revoked the passport of former Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi on Thursday on the request of the Enforcement Directorate. HT Correspondents report.

The regional passport office (RPO) in Mumbai revoked the passport of former Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi on Thursday on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

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The directorate is probing cases of Foreign Exchange Management Act violations against Modi.

Mehmood Abdi, counsel of Modi who is now residing in the UK, confirmed the news, saying, “His (Modi's) passport has been revoked, but I am yet to go through the entire order.”

On October 15, 2010, following the ED's request to revoke the passport, as Modi allegedly did not respond to summons, the passport authorities issued a show-cause notice to him.

Modi, however, wanted questioning through video-conferencing, claiming threat to his life in India. “We gave them an opportunity and after having gone through their representation, we decided to revoke his passport,” an RPO official said.

Now with his passport revoked, Modi’s stay in the UK has become illegal, as he entered that country as an Indian national. A government official said if Modi did not have “other documents like resident permit, his troubles were more immediate”.