The Indian government has sent a request to the UK for extradition of absconding jeweller Nirav Modi, wanted in India in connection with USD 2 billion scam in the Punjab National Bank.Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh also said two Red Corner Notices have been issued against Modi by the interpol. “An extradition request has been received in the Ministry of External Affairs from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for the extradition of Nirav Deepak Modi from the United Kingdom (UK),” he said “The request has been sent by a Special Diplomatic Bag to the High Commission of India (HCI), London for onward transmission to the UK authorities,” Singh said in a written reply to a question in the upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Modi and his uncle Mehul Chokshi are the main accused in the scam, India’s biggest banking fraud. Both of them left India before the details of the fraud came to light on January 16. While it has now emerged that Choksi has taken citizenship of caribbean island of Antigua, there is no clarity on whereabouts of Modi. There were reports that Modi visited several countries in the past few months including the UK, France and Belgium. In June, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) wrote to several European countries seeking help in tracing Modi, the key accused in India’s biggest banking fraud.
On February 16, the MEA revoked Modi’s passport. However, Singh said the MEA has no means to verify the travels, if any, of Modi and the passport used for such travels by him. Last month the MEA said it sent messages to all Indian missions abroad to get in touch with local governments to deny entry to Modi and inform India if he was residing there.
