Jun 17
In an interview to a TV channel last night, Lalit Modi claimed that the Rajasthan Chief Minister had supported in writing his immigration plea. Further added,he has a family relationship with Mrs Swaraj whose husband and daughter had provided legal services free of cost. He said, Raje had accompanied his wife to Portugal for her cancer treatment two years ago.
During the channel  interview, Lalit Modi having told it that he was also helped by NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel and Congress leader Rajiv Shukla. Shukla said, he had not talked to Modi for three years, while Pawar said, he tried to convince the former IPL Chief to return to India and face investigations. To a question, Modi said he was not travelling to India because of security concerns.
Controversy over External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj helping Lalit Modi to seek travel documents has taken a new twist. According to Channels a document has surfaced in which Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has allegedly backed the former IPL Commissioner’s immigration plea in August 2011. The document, whose authenticity has not been confirmed yet, came into circulation just hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley backed Mrs Swaraj saying, whatever she had done was in good faith and bona fide.
The document said to have emanated from the Lalit Modi camp, had a confidentiality clause in which Ms Raje purportedly supported Modi’s case but did not want it to be revealed to Indian authorities.
Racting on this, the Rajasthan Chief Minister said that she knew Lalit Modi’s family, but does not know about the document.
Rajasthan BJP spokesperson, Kailash Nath Bhat has questioned the authenticity of the document saying there were no signatures of Ms Raje and also that she had not been in touch with Modi for the last four or five years. He said, this is being done to malign the Chief Minister’s image.