Headlines
Scotland Yard has no knowledge of threat to Lalit Modi
London, June 19
Scotland Yard, London's
metropolitan police authority, has no knowledge of any threat to Lalit
Modi, the former commissioner of the Indian Premier League who has
allegedly been avoiding returning to India to face interrogation by the
Indian finance ministry's Enforcement Directorate and other authorities,
Raymedia reported on Friday.
On November 26, 2010, following his
move from India to Britain that year, Scotland Yard was asked by RAY
about its threat perceptions in respect of Modi. The Yard replied: "We
have no knowledge of any threat to Mr Modi."
On Thursday, the official response was: "We do not discuss matters of security or the identity of individuals involved."
However,
a source at Scotland Yard on condition of anonymity affirmed: "Nothing
has changed." In other words, the Yard still has no knowledge of any
threat to Modi.
In response to notices served on him by
investigating agencies in India to make himself available for
questioning, Modi has claimed his life would be in danger if he returned
to India. But he does not appear to have informed the Yard about such
threats or sought its protection.
Since Sunday, Modi has
contributed to a political storm in India by dragging its External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chief Minister of Rajasthan
Vasundhara Raje into his efforts to obtain travel papers from the
British government and residence in this country respectively.
Earlier,
under the Congress-led Indian government, his passport was confiscated
and the Indian government in a diplomatic note to its British
counterpart sought his deportation back to India, where he has been
served show-cause notices in at least 15 cases of alleged economic or
criminal offences.
Modi is now reportedly holidaying in Montenegro.