Jaipur, Oct 29: Rajasthan High Court today quashed an FIR registered against former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi in connection with alleged irregularities in disbursement of Rs 6 crore meant for victims of 2008 Jaipur blasts.

A single judge bench of Justice Nisha Gupta quashed the FIR filed against the former Rajasthan Cricket Association president and the then IPL commissioner. According to the FIR, Modi had presented a dummy placard of a cheque of Rs 6 crore to the then CM but the entire amount was never deposited to the Chief Minister's relief fund.

The cheque was presented during the prize distribution ceremony after a match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians on May 17, 2008 at SMS stadium Jaipur. The case was registered under Section 420 and 467 of the IPC. It was alleged in the FIR that IPL raised money announcing that a sum of money from the tickets will be donated to blast victims.

However, it was contended by Modi that no fraud was committed with the government as it was merely a charity and there cannot be any cheating or fraud if the amount was not paid in totality. It has also been argued by Modi that there was no cheque as such deposited and it was only a "yeoman service" that was being rendered towards society by the IPL at that time.

A sum of Rs 50 lakh was already deposited but the rest amount could not be deposited due to the failure of the collaborating patterns of IPL season one that owned the teams to contribute their shares as promised and since it was a charity no one can be said to have committed any cheating.

PTI