Modi’s ‘threat to life’ claim just to evade ED summons?

On the day former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi’s lawyer cited threat perception to justify his client’s refusal to return to the country, official documents released by the Congress on Monday contradicted his claims.

On the day former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi’s lawyer cited threat perception to justify his client’s refusal to return to the country, official documents released by the Congress on Monday contradicted his claims.

The opposition party, which released a set of 200 documents comprising enforcement directorate (ED) summons and show cause notices and email trails between British lawmaker Keith Vaz and UK authorities, showed that Lalit Modi was seeking travel papers not just for the cancer treatment of his wife but also to attend a family wedding abroad.

In one of the documents, the ED said the security threat as claimed by Lalit Modi for his leaving the country did not come in the way of his making public appearances and participating in crowded functions in connection with the IPL tournament in April 2010.

“Modi was present all along in India and carrying on his day-to-day activities unhindered by the threat perception. The documents furnished by him do not abdicate any compelling reasons for his travel outside India.

It is understood that Modi left India after the irregularities committed in the conduct of IPL came to surface and investigations were intensified,” it said. “It clearly appears that the grounds of security concerns have been raised by him only for the purpose of stalling the process of investigation.”

The documents further stated that Lalit Modi continued to stay in India even a year after he received an email threatening him of dire consequences on September 14, 2009.

He left India on May 14, 2010 and travelled to London. His lawyer had claimed that the Mumbai police withdrew security protection from Lalit Modi on May 11, 2010 and that forced him to leave India.