CPI(M) demands inquiry into Lalit Modi row

The party also termed the assistance of Sushma Swaraj in the matter as "completely unacceptable"

Terming External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's assistance to Indian fugitive Lalit Modi in getting British travel documents as "completely unacceptable", CPI(M) today demanded though enquiry into the matter.

"The intervention by the Minister of External Affairs, in inappropriately facilitating the travel of a person with serious criminal charges connected with the IPL controversy, is completely unacceptable."

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"There must be a thorough enquiry into all the allegations that have surfaced regarding this affair and consequent punishment under the law must be taken promptly against all concerned," the Communist party said in a statement.

The party also demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to redeem assertions he had made on grounds that his government is "corruption free" and "accountable" after completion of a year in office.

"The accountability of Prime Minister and Government on this score can be enforced only when the Prime Minister, whose prerogative it is under our constitutional scheme of things to decide on the composition of the Union Cabinet, announces the necessary action on this score," CPI(M) said.

Swaraj is at the centre of a major row over helping scam-tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi to obtain British travel documents but found strong support from the government and the BJP which rejected opposition demands for her resignation over alleged "impropriety".

The genesis of the controversy was disclosure of emails showing that she had spoken to Indian-origin British MP Keith Vaz and its High Commissioner here James Bevan favouring the grant of travel documents to Lalit Modi to go to Portugal, purportedly for his wife's cancer treatment in June last year.

Modi, who is wanted in India, has made London his home since 2010 to avoid a probe for alleged foreign exchange regulation violations in the T20 cricket tournament held in South Africa in 2009. The previous UPA government had revoked his passport and had pressed for his extradition.