A special court in Mumbai on Tuesday gave permission to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to begin extradition proceedings against former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi, who is believed to be in the United Kingdom, in connection with the money laundering probe against him.
In August last year, the ED had managed to get an Interpol Red Corner notice against the former IPL boss, but it yielded no results.
Officials said that the ED will now send the extradition request to the Ministry of External Affairs which will take it up with the authorities in the UK for final execution. They added that investigators have substantial evidence to state that Modi is based in the UK at present.
Modi has repeatedly denied of any wrong doing, but the ED claims that he cheated Indian cricket board and IPL in granting overseas telecast rights of the cricket tournament in 2009.
An FIR was registered against Modi and others under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) relating to the T-20 IPL tournament.
Interpol authorities have at regular intervals sought additional information from ED investigators as part of the process of issuing the world-wide warrant against him.
The ED is probing Modi, the IPL and its executives for alleged violation of anti-money laundering laws after registering a criminal FIR in 2012.
The FIR was filed after the central agency took cognisance of a cheating complaint filed by former BCCI chief N Srinivasan against Modi and half a dozen others with the Chennai police.
The ED subsequently invoked PMLA along with sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC to probe if BCCI-IPL and the exchequer had been cheated in the award of telecast rights for the T-20 tournament in 2009.
(With PTI inputs)
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