Raje proposed Padma award for Lalit Modi

Jaipur: Already under fire from the Opposition over her connections with tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi, Rajasthan Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje could be in another trouble as the latest media reports suggest that Raje had recommended Modi for a Padma award in 2007.

According to a news report in Dainik Bhaskar, Raje had forwarded Modi's name on July 28, 2007 through the sports council. In its recommendation, the state government had cited Modi's vast business empire and his contributions in development of cricket in the state as a ground for the award. The recommendation letter also mentioned how Modi helped the state in organising six matches of Champions League.

Meanwhile, Enforcement Directorate will soon request authorities in the UK to provide info on properties in which it suspects don Dawood Ibrahim has a financial interest.

This includes a hotel in London with an Indian connection as well as real estate in Essex and Kent. ED recently sent a letter of request to the external affairs ministry with details of the real estate in which it suspects Dawood could have invested through front companies. Apart from UK, ED is also approaching authorities in Turkey, Spain and Morocco where letters of request will be sent as part of the probe into a case registered under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Paid Lalit 1,000 cr: Dawood

A Gujarati television channel Nirmana has claimed that it has interviewed fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. The channel is owned by Gujarat cable television baron Padmakant Trivedi.

There was no independent confirmation about the veracity of the interview and if the man speaking is really Indias most wanted gangster. In the interview, the man claiming to be Dawood claims that he had made an offer to come back to India.

When asked if he was in Lahore, Pakistan, he said that things would not have come to such a pass if the then Indian government had accepted his offer. He claimed he was a businessman and has nothing to do with who is a terrorist and who is not.

Dawood also claimed he paid Rs 1,000 crore to former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi in connection with a purely business deal and claimed he name was being unnecessarily being dragged into the IPL slot fixing scandal.

Meanwhile, The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking a SIT probe into the claims that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim wanted to return to India and face the law but previous governments did not respond to the offer.

Petitioner Kishore Samrite had sought a retired Supreme Court judge to head the SIT.

Samrite in his petition told the court that Dawood Ibrahim had two to three times approached people, expressing his desire to come back and face the law, but the government did not act on his offer. An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu while declining the plea said that it was not for the judiciary to look into it and the issue did not require judicial interference.