ALOK TOMAR
NEW
DELHI Vasundhara Raje is queen and chief minister. She can bless any
one with estates and power, like she did with Lalit Modi, the new boss
of Rajasthan cricket association. Who is Lalit Modi, the man who
suddenly cropped up in Kolkata on Wednesday and claimed to represent the
Rajasthan Cricket Association at the BCCI AGM? Modi's claim was
cold-shouldered in favour of Kishore Rungta who voted for Mahendra. Modi
is a Delhi-based industrialist and was that time the vice president of
the Punjab Cricket Association. He is close to Rajasthan CM Vasundhara
Raje and is known to have played a key role in initiating a recent
ordinance for regulating sports bodies, whose main target was the Rungta
clan. Modi managed to obtain a letter authorising him to attend the
board AGM from one of the RCA joint secretary, Rakesh Agarwal Modi, an
outsider in Rajasthan cricket, has been trying to represent RCA in the
board for some time.But wait for a second.Mr. Modi is a proclaimed
offender of drug trafficking in North Carolina state of US.he has been
tried and punished by Durham country court house and his probation
period was on till last 1990 but till then he had ‘bought’ the honour of
being the Honarary counsul of Jamaica in India. This power game lasted
till Kamal Morarka, the industrialist and former union Minister filed an
affidavit, baring modi’s past and ousted Rajasthan Cricket association
supreme Kishor Rungta filed a petition, armed with original case
papers.The story unfolds thus—Lalit Modi, according to Rungta petition,
along with one Alex McKinnon did a drug deal with Alexander van Dyne for
buying half a kg. of Cocaine for trafficking purposes. Lalit Modi was
then Studying in Duke University, Durham, North Carolina(NC for short)
Unknown to them, van Dyne reported this to the Police.Something went
wrong in the deal when the exchange of money and cocaine was to take
place at Econo-Lodge Hotel, Durham on 23rd Feb 85. Lalit Modi, along
with John El-Masry and Sheperd Small(Tony) went to Wilson House to
square up with van Dyne and pulled him out of his room on 24th feb. He
was badly assaulted and forced into a waiting car and taken to another
place The matter was reported to the Police by an onlooker Police
arrested and booked Modi and El-Masry. A bail was obtained by paying a
$50000 cash bond. The petition says.Modi remained in custody for 3 days
After he was let off, the Grand Jury indicted Modi on 4 charges which
were listed as 85 CRS- 5817,5818,5819 and 5820 on 1st April 1985Out of
these charges, 5819 and 5820 were serious felony charges( See the
Indictment papers)The charges being serious, a trial would have seen
Modi in prison for 10 years Taking advantage of the North Carolina
General Statutes(NCGS) and the mitigating factors listed for a first
offence, the Modi camp sent out a barrage of recommendatory letters to
the Prosecuting Attorney Ronald Stephens and the Judge Thomas H Lee(some
samples listed) Finding themselves cornered, Lalit Modi’s counsel Wade
Smith persuaded Modi to plead Guilty in order to attract lesser
sentence. Modi pleaded Guilty after a plea arrangement under Chapter
15A, para 1022 of NCGS As per the arrangement, 5817, 5818 and a common
charge of 9809 were dropped As part of the arrangement, The cocaine
trafficking charge amounting to a class C felony attracting a minimum of
175 months of imprisonment was converted into a class H felony which
would entitle Modi for a probation for a first offence and the Felony of
Kidnap was converted into Misdemeanour charge of False imprisonment.The
facts may be verified from RONALD L STEPHENS, the former attorney
general of NORTH CAROLINA. His contacts are--(919) 493-5791 - 4101
Thetford Rd, Durham, NC 27707On the misdemeanours under charge# 5819,
Modi was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment suspended for five years
together with five years supervised probation and $10000 fine. On the
Felony of Cocaine Trafficking under charge# 5820, Modi was sentenced to
Ten years prayer for Judgment continued for Five years under the
provisions of NCGS, Chapter 90, para 95. This provision basically means
that the sentence is pronounced but kept suspended for first-timers.On
18th April 1986, Modi was allowed to leave USA for India on certain
conditions. His probation ended only on 23rd June 1990.By concealing the
fact of his conviction, Modi has secured a number of positions which he
would otherwise have not got. His conviction means that under Section
267 of the companies’ Act, he could not have become a whole-time
director of his group companies which he presently enjoys.He has also
concealed this information to become He has also concealed this
information to become the Hon. Consul for the Jamaican consulate in
Mumbai,the petition says and claims that He has concealed this
information to “usurp’ the position of the President of Rajasthan
Cricket Association with the help of his friend, Vasundhara Raje. So
much for clean BJP image.
No comments:
Post a Comment