Diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is at the centre of a Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, is currently in the United Kingdom, top officials said on Monday, 11 June.
UK Minister Baroness Williams is said to have assured Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju of Britain’s full cooperation in India's efforts to expedite the extradition of Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and others, PTI reported.
"UK authorities have confirmed Nirav Modi's presence in Britain," an official privy to the meeting was quoted as saying by PTI.
Nirav Modi on the Run
Nirav Modi’s whereabouts have been of grave concern for the Indian government. It was earlier reported that he went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Mumbai after the scam was unearthed, from where he moved to Hong Kong in the third week of March. He then fled to London and subsequently to New York.
He has not joined the ED probe in the case till now, and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year following a complaint by PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
I had a very useful meeting with UK Minister Baroness Williams. We discussed India-UK joint efforts to deal with terrorism and extremism. We also agreed to cooperate in the matters of extradition and sharing of information.Kiren Rijiju, MoS, Home Affairs
An official said the Indian side tried to allay apprehension of the UK on the issue of human rights and conditions of jails, saying India is a democracy and fully adhered to international laws.
The Indian government had reportedly approached the Chinese government when Modi was reported to be in Hong Kong, according to a Firstpost report.
Now, he is back in London trying to claim asylum from what he calls "political persecution”, the FT reported.
India’s ministry of external affairs told the FT the Indian government was waiting for the country’s law enforcement agencies to approach them before pushing for an extradition, which had thus far not happened.
The ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular working hours.
Indian police filed charges against more than 25 people in May including Modi, Choksi, former PNB chief Usha Ananthasubramanian, two of the bank's executive directors and three companies belonging to Nirav Modi.
Red Corner Notice
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asked the international police cooperation organisation, Interpol, to issue a red-corned notice against Nirav Modi. The notice would mean that the member countries of the agency can arrest and extradite Nirav who fled the country in the first week of January this year.
The CBI, in its chargesheets filed on 14 May, had alleged that Nirav Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. Choksi allegedly swindled Rs 7080.86 crore, making it possibly the biggest banking scam in the country, it alleged.
Modi and Choksi have denied any wrongdoing.
(With inputs from PTI)
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