Mumbai:
The deadline for the suspended IPL chairman to respond to the Enforcement Directorate's blue corner notice expired on Thursday but there is still no sign of the man.
A fugitive on the run he may not be but with Lalit Modi's stubborn refusal to return to India for questioning, the various agencies investigating his case are now getting impatient.
"He is not absconding at all. He has no reason to abscond. He has been replying to all the showcause notices issued by the ED from time to time. All explanations have been given. Where is the need for such a loose expression," said Mehmood Abdi, Lalit Modi's lawayer.
While Modi has offered to fly investigating officers to London - where he has been ever since the scandal over financial irregularities in the IPL broke - government agencies now have contrasting views on how to conduct the probe.
Sources have told NDTV that the:- Finance Ministry is seeking an opinion from the Law Ministry on Modi's interrogation
- Income Tax officials fear that jurisdiction issues may arise if Modi is questioned in London
- The I-T department is now trying to ascertain whether it is legal to conduct an interrogation on foreign soil via videoconferencing
- However, there are major difference between the I-T department and the ED on how to proceed
- While the I-T is keen to question Modi in London, the ED would prefer to revoke his passport and have Modi deported