India has reportedly written to three countries — UK, France and Belgium — to help track down fugitive fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, who is at the centre of a $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. The move has been taken to restrict Nirav Modi’s movements.
On Tuesday, a special court in Mumbai had allowed the Enforcement Directorate’s plea seeking extradition of Nirav Modi in a money laundering case. Judge MS Azmi allowed the central agency to initiate the extradition process.
ED counsel Hiten Venegaokar said the order would be sent to the Ministry of External Affairs, which would forward it to the UK government. The agency had moved the extradition application earlier this week.
The ED is understood to have sought Modi’s extradition from the UK, Belgium and a few other countries, on the basis of a recent charge sheet filed by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The court had last week issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Nirav Modi after taking cognisance of the charge sheet.
According to the officials, the extradition request was made to multiple countries as Nirav Modi had been changing his location continuously.
Nirav, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being probed by various agencies after the bank fraud came to light following a complaint from the Punjab National Bank that they allegedly cheated it to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore.
(With PTI inputs)