A London court has issued an arrest warrant against fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi, who is currently hiding in London under British government’s Golden visa scheme, Metropolitan police of London informed Indian government on Monday. Nirav Modi is accused of $2 billiion (around 13000 crore INR) in Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) Mumbai branch.
British government and its London mayor Sajid Javed is acting on the request of Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Indian government. ED has so far recovered only about 400 crores from Nirav Modi’s Indian properties.
Westminster court informed India’s investigative agency that he’ll be put under formal arrest soon, but refused to give a date. Repeated requests of knowing the exact dates of arrest were also denied by London police.
A report in Times of India quoting high ranking government sources claimed that a team of CBI officials including an ED official is expected to fly to London to give some more proofs to the court for the imminent arrest of the fugitive jeweller.
Meanwhile reports in a leading British daily ‘The Telegraph’ reportedly tracked down Nirav Modi on London’s streets and also his address tracking down to Soho, a part of posh West End locality in a leafy $8 million 3-bedroom apartment covering about half of the floor and an estimated rent of 17000 pounds a month, and also that he was involved in a new diamond business.
Few reports said that Indian media correspondents questioning to fugitive diamantaire in an eatery in London were ignored by him by his standard reply, “No comments”.
The Telegraph newspaper, quoting government sources, reported that fugitive jeweller had acquired a national insurance number from UK government – needed to legally work in Britain while being absconding in a billion dollar scam in India.
