MEA seeks help from European countries to trace Nirav Modi

With no clarity yet on the whereabouts of Nirav Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has sought assistance from select European countries to trace and restrict absconding diamantaire's movements.

The MEA last week wrote to a select group of European countries seeking help from them to locate Nirav Modi and restrict his movement.

The group includes countries like Belgium, UK and France which Nirav Modi is said to have visited or transited, in the past few months.

A special court in Mumbai on Tuesday allowed investigating agencies to start the process of Nirav Modi's extradition from the UK over charges of money laundering.

The ED had earlier filed the application in the court seeking permission to start extradition of the absconding diamantaire in connection with a multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. According to the ED, Nirav Modi is in the UK and needs to be extradited as non-bailable warrants (NBW) has already issued against him, and he is not appearing before the court even after prosecution complaint.

The ED had also sent a request for a Red Corner Notice against the billionaire businessman, but the Interpol is yet to issue the same. Nirav, who is allegedly at the center of the multi-crore bank fraud, has reportedly fled to the UK, where he is claiming political asylum.

For those unversed, the PNB detected the multi-crore scam this year, wherein Nirav and his uncle-cum-business-partner Mehul Choksi had allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of USD 2 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

OneIndia News (with ANI inputs)