Lalit Modi PMLA case: India talks to Interpol

With no signs of an Interpol notice against Lalit Modi coming, India recently contacted the global police body and pressed its demand for an early notification of the Red warrant sought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman in connection with its money-laundering case.

Official sources on Wednesday said a meeting in this regard was recently held with a joint team of ED, CBI and Ministry of External Affairs, talking to the Interpol, via a video conferencing facility from here.

They said the Interpol, which has raised a number of queries for notifying a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Modi, was briefed about the ED FIR filed in the case, the proceedings made in this regard in a special Mumbai court and the need for an urgent action on their part.

Sources said the Interpol, at the conclusion of the meeting, assured the investigators that they would cooperate.

The ED, it is understood, also told them about the status of the predicate offence registered in this case by the Chennai police.

The ED had registered a money-laundering case against Modi and others based on the Chennai police’s complaint in 2012. The ED headquarters, sometime ago, had also written to the Tamil Nadu police to expedite action in the FIR and brief it about its current status.

With no help coming on this front, the ED recently got a court’s nod to begin extradition proceedings against Modi, whom it suspects to be based in the United Kingdom.

The extradition request was granted by a special court in Mumbai sometime ago 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.