Helping Lalit Modi is legally, morally wrong: BJP MP R K Singh

New Delhi: BJP MP R K Singh on Tuesday struck a discordant note over Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje extending help to former IPL boss Lalit Modi, saying “any help to a fugitive is legally and morally wrong”.

He urged the government to take all measures to bring him back to India to face the law.

Mr. Singh’s strong comments are the first public criticism by a ruling party MP against the help extended to Mr. Lalit Modi by Ms. Swaraj and Ms. Raje, an issue which has snowballed into a major political storm for the Narendra Modi government even though the BJP has defended both the leaders.

“If anybody helps a bhagoda (fugitive), it is wrong. This is wrong legally as well as morally. If anybody meets a fugitive, it is absolutely wrong. Whosoever has helped him, I think it is completely wrong,” Mr. Singh, a former Home Secretary, told reporters in New Delhi.

He said Mr. Lalit Modi had been evading judicial warrants and summons and he was clearly a fugitive and any help given to him or any meeting with him was wrong.

He did not name either Ms. Swaraj or Ms. Raje.

Asked if Mr. Lalit Modi was being “saved”, Mr. Singh said the departments concerned should be doing their job.

“I have given my view,” he said when asked about BJP’s defence of both the leaders and added that he would not like to name individuals.

Mr. Singh said the government should appeal against the Delhi High Court order, which restored the former IPL commissioner’s passport and demanded that his property should be attached, if needed.

“All measures should be taken to bring him back to India so that he faces the law,” he said.

Ms. Swaraj and Ms. Raje have been facing flak for helping Mr. Lalit Modi in procuring travel documents in the U.K.