Stop the witch hunt, says Lalit Modi

After days of silence, Lalit Modi started tweeting again on Monday. In his typically aggressive way, Modi talked of the “witch hunt” . His Twitter comments come a day before the scheduled hearing of the disciplinary committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Modi, however, is unlikely to appear before the three-member committee in New Delhi on Tuesday. He has demanded the recusal of all three members — Arun Jaitley, Chirayu Amin and Jyotiraditya Scindia — from the committee. He wanted the inquiry handed over to a retired Supreme Court judge.

“Modi has nothing to hide and is ready to face a bigger and fairer inquiry by a retired Supreme Court judge because the witch hunt will never lead the truth to surface,” Mehmood Abdi, Modi’s counsel, said on Monday.

Modi was stronger in his wordings: “Have always agreed to cooperate, provided there is no witch hunt. Those concerned should be guardians of justice and the sport. Rumours of non-cooperation from me are planted and irresponsible. If this is not a witch hunt, what is!,” he said on Twitter.

Abdi, meanwhile, took exception to the rumour that Modi is going to boycott the proceedings on Tuesday.

“There seems to be a concerted campaign by vested
interests by planting such rumors just to create the impression that Modi is running away from the inquiry. Whereas, Modi, from Day One, has asked not just for a thorough probe but by an independent panel not amenable to influence or interest in the issues involved or otherwise biased against him. Modi is happy to cooperate in any way to bring this matter to rest provided it does not become a witch hunt,” Abdi added.

According to Abdi, Modi has been following a firm and consistent line through his replies to the three show cause notices and the demands for recusal of interested parties from the disciplinary proceedings. Abdi said, “We are going to attend the meeting tomorrow and look forward to a resolution on the core issue of recusal at the earliest.”

Abdi further said, “We expect a fair deliberation more so in the view of the fact that a legal luminary Arun Jaitley is involved in the process who will hopefully uphold the highest standards of judicial propriety and fairness of process on the core issue of recusal and lay the rest the issue of a witch hunt.”