FILE photo: Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria
Mumbai's top cop Rakesh Maria has successfully defended a meeting in London last year with Lalit Modi; sources in the Maharashtra government say Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is satisfied with the explanation offered by the Police Commissioner in person last night.
Mr Modi is wanted in India to answer charges of corruption, tax evasion and money-laundering during his term as chair of the cash-rich Indian Premier League or IPL.
Chief Minister Fadnavis was reportedly considering transferring Mr Maria before he received the in-person explanation and detailed written report.
Mr Maria has said in his defense that he had informed then Home Minister RR Patil of his session with Mr Modi.
Sources point out that penalizing Mr Maria would have been tricky for the Chief Minister in any case since his party, the BJP, has offered voluble support for two senior leaders, Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje, who provided support for various appeals he made to UK officials about immigration and urgent travel documents at a time when his passport had been revoked by India.
Mr Maria has said that his 20-minute meeting with Mr Modi was organised at the insistence of the entrepreneur's lawyer to discuss an alleged threat to Mr Modi's life. The police officer has described as "malicious" reports that the session was orchestrated by Vinod Goenka, a businessman on trial in the telecom scam.
Mr Maria yesterday did not respond directly to questions from NDTV about whether the police force agreed with Mr Modi's assessment that his life is at risk with recurring death threats from the underworld. Politician and cricket boss Sharad Pawar has told NDTV that there "is some substance" to these apprehensions which Mr Modi shared with him, also at a meeting in London four weeks ago.