NEW DELHI: Former IPL chairman and businessman Lalit Modi has pushed back strongly against being labelled a “fugitive”, insisting that he has “never been convicted” of any crime.He also dismissed the tag as a product of “media sensationalism” rather than legal reality.In an exclusive interview with news agency ANI, Lalit Modi rejected the notion that he has been on the run since leaving the country in 2010.Arguing that someone genuinely evading probe agencies could not travel openly across the world, he said the narrative surrounding him had been shaped more by headlines than court findings.“I’m not running at all. I’m going all over the world. If I was running, you would be picking me up somewhere or the other. The Indian government has a long arm… You can’t take on the government of India. And I don’t intend to. It’s not the government. It’s the media,” he said.Lalit Modi also took aim at what he described as a culture of media trials, blaming the absence of strong defamation laws for repeated allegations against him.“You have no libel in your country, in our country. You can say what you want and I sell news,” he said.The former cricket administrator also addressed the legal and regulatory scrutiny he has faced over the years, including action by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and investigations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While allegations ranging from bid-rigging and money laundering to violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) have been levelled against him, Lalit Modi maintained that none had resulted in a conviction.Questioning the pace of the judicial system, he argued that prolonged legal uncertainty itself amounts to punishment.“It never gets heard in our country. Justice comes. I don’t know when it comes. The slow justice is a punishment as well. Not a single case against me has been registered. If I have been so bad, and everybody says I’ve been so bad, OK, please, guys, go out and prosecute me,” he said.Asked whether he intends to return to India and clear his name in court, Lalit Modi suggested that chapter of his life is behind him.“There was a time when I did want to come back. And I had all the reasons to come back. Come back and do what?… I don’t need to prove to anybody,” he said.He also questioned the legal basis for any potential arrest after more than a decade of investigations.“Arrest you want to do, you have to take me to court. Seventeen years you haven’t taken me to court. How can you arrest me today? If there was something there, it would be out,” he said.On questions about criticism from opposition leaders, Lalit Modi claimed he had become a convenient political talking point and alleged that some political figures continued to target him.“What I’m afraid about is that you have some people that I have upset and they are political. Whether they sit in the opposition or they sit anywhere else, they have an axe against me. And they also have a lot of clout… If you look at the parliament speeches of Rahul Gandhi, he always attacks me every time there is an election or some issue. Why am I being attacked by the Congress government?…” he said.Despite Lalit Modi’s claims, India continues to pursue investigation linked to his tenure as IPL chief.The Enforcement Directorate is probing allegations of financial irregularities, money laundering and unauthorised fund transfers, while the ministry of external affairs is pursuing extradition-related processes under Indian and international legal frameworks.
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