Who spilled the beans on Lalit Modi travel documents?

The story of Lalit Kumar Modi is one of extreme wealth, unimaginable opulence, high-level connections and several manipulations. Yet to turn 50, the colourful scion of the $3-billion Modi Enterprises has managed to make friends and enemies across party lines. The latest episode of his sarkari links, spanning two continents and involving high-profile personalities, reeks of the stench we are so used to inhaling.

How does a man who fled the country in 2010 after several government agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate and the Income-Tax Department, initiated probes into the violations he allegedly committed as chairman of the Indian Premier League manage to convince India's minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj, in July 2014, to get a UK MP to, in turn, convince his government to provide him with travel documents?

A "fugitive" with a "blue-corner notice" in his name, Modi has virtually challenged successive Indian governments from his palatial mansion in London. The Interpol has issued a blue-corner notice, which is to locate, identify or obtain information on a person of interest in a criminal investigation, against Modi.

Now that Modi's proximity to Sushma Swaraj — Swaraj's daughter, a lawyer, has represented Modi — is out in the open, it may be noted that not everybody in the BJP is on his side. It's common knowledge in cricketing circles that finance minister Arun Jaitley detests him. And why not? In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Modi posted several anti-Jaitley tweets and how he would lose to Capt Amarinder Singh of the Congress.

Modi's wish was granted, but nothing could stop Jaitley from becoming the No. 2 man in Narendra Modi's cabinet. That apart, in the war between Modi and N Srinivasan, Jaitley stood behind the latter. Which brings us to the question: couldn't the latest controversy be an inside job? Swaraj can breathe easy for now because everyone – from the PM to the BJP president to the RSS – is backing her. But can she claim innocence after helping a man who has been on the run for more than five years now?

Not much is known of Modi's equation with another top BJP leader, Vasundhara Raje, who is back in the seat of power in Rajasthan. A senior IAS officer said "nobody, absolutely nobody" knows the "mystery" of the relationship between Raje and Modi. "That they were friends back then is well known. But we don't know what the equation is now."

In fact, soon after becoming the president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association last year, Modi spoke to dna from London. "Let the results of the Lok Sabha elections be out. I will come back to India soon... I have a good relationship with many people in the BJP. I won't take names, though. Look, my job is to work for cricket. I am just doing that," he had said. This after dna reminded him of his equation with Jaitley.

Modi's journey as the czar of the cricketing world started during the 2003-2008 regime of Rajasthan chief minister Raje when he was allegedly operating as the "super chief minister" from his suite at the opulent Rambagh Palace Hotel in Jaipur.

His imminent downfall coincided with the start of the second edition of the Indian Premier League in 2009, which he organised in South Africa by snubbing then home minister P Chidambaram, who said that the government would not be able to provide security for the tournament due of the general elections.

In 2005, Modi used his connections with Raje to overthrow the powerful Kishore Rungta regime from the RCA. He did so by getting the Rajasthan Sports Act enacted. The ordinance was such that it hacked away at Rungta's base of power, taking the voting rights away from 66 individual members of the RCA, leaving only the 32 districts.

Such was his proximity to Raje that many top civil servants were reportedly seen carrying files to his suite. On November 29, 2005, he became the youngest vice-president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). This became possible only because of Sharad Pawar, who was hell-bent on throwing Jagmohan Dalmiya out of the board.

In fact, the popular perception in the BCCI was that Modi allegedly paid huge "protection money" to many — past and present — political heavyweights from all parties during the first three years of the IPL. In short, he wanted to have a free run.

In fact, the likes of Narendra Modi (Gujarat Cricket Association), Arun Jaitley (Delhi and District Cricket Association), Rajiv Shukla (Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association), Anurag Thakur (Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association) and Jyotiraditya Scindia (Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association) were all silent spectators when Modi was running the IPL circus.

A senior BCCI official even told dna that during those three years, none of these leaders protested against his style of functioning. "The protection money was being paid to many politicians. Modi used to boast of his relationships with political heavyweights to get things done in no time. It was probably his first big mistake when he took on Chidambaram," said a senior BCCI official.

Modi and Swaraj share a very close friendship. After all, the Union minister's daughter, Bansuri Swaraj, has represented Modi in crucial legal cases. Bansuri, who went to Oxford University as well as the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in the UK, is a criminal lawyer who practises in the Delhi High Court as well as the Supreme Court. She was one of the nine lawyers who had represented Modi in the Delhi HC when he challenged the government for revoking his passport in 2010.

It was in 2009 that the first suggestions of a rivalry between Modi and N Srinivasan surfaced. Though then-BCCI president Shashank Manohar doused the fire for some time, all hell broke loose when Modi disclosed the ownership structure of the brand-new Kochi franchise in the IPL. Shashi Tharoor, a junior minister from Kerala, had to resign. The BCCI bigwigs joined hands to show Modi the door for their own "personal insecurity".

The big decision finally came at the stroke of midnight after the 2010 IPL final. Modi was booted out of BCCI on the charges of financial irregularities. But not before the IPL czar delivered his final speech, patting himself on the back and taking all credit for creating this wealthiest league in the world.

A few weeks after his suspension, before the ED sleuths could reach him, Modi flew to London where his wife Minal has family. He hired lawyers from Carter-Ruck (dubbed "the mother of all libel firms") to fight the BCCI's charges with defamation notices of his own.

His agenda was clear: go after Srinivasan, who he thought had masterminded his ouster from BCCI. Modi fired the first big salvo from the UK, accusing Srinivasan, who was the BCCI president in 2012, of 'fixing' the auction of English superstar Andrew Flintoff in 2009. So much so was the hatred that he openly admitted his support to Aditya Verma, Cricket Association of Bihar secretary, who was fighting a separate legal battle against Srinivasan in the Supreme Court. And finally when Srinivasan had to make way for a new president in BCCI, there were speculations that Modi may surface soon to start his second innings.