Lalit Modi row: Sharad Pawar backs Rakesh Maria , CM Devendra Fadnavis seeks info

MUMBAI: NCP chief Sharad Pawar has backed Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria after he admitted that he had met Lalit Modi in London in 2014.

"Anyone can meet anyone abroad, politics shouldn’t be brought into this," said Pawar in Tasgaon. Pawar also claimed that NCP had not helped the former IPL commissioner in any manner.

Pawar’s comments are significant as Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday sought "information’ from Mumbai Police Commissioner Maria. Fadnavis told reporters that he has asked Maria to give an official information on his meeting with Modi. "We have asked Rakesh Maria to give information officially to the government on what he has said in the media. Based on this information, we will decide our future course of action," said Fadnavis.

Fadnavis said Maria has been given a day’s time to submit the information. Maria is in the news after TV channels reported that the top cop had met Modi in London even as the latter was being pursued by ED. Maria claimed he had met Modi in London in 2014 on the insistence of the latter’s lawyer, Mehmood Abdi.