Nirav Modi is accused of defrauding PNB of Rs 13,000 crore and has been absconding since January last year.
Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, main accused of the US $ 2-billion PNB fraud, is openly and freely roaming on the streets of the UK.
British newspaper The Telegraph confronted the embattled billionaire tycoon on a busy London street on Friday. The daily tracked him down to an £8 million apartment in London’s West End.
Nirav Modi, 48, is wanted in connection with Punjab National Bank fraud case. In December last year, British authorities had informed India that Modi was living in the UK.
Now the fugitive has been tracked down to a three-bedroom apartment which occupies half of a floor at the landmark Centre Point in London’s West End. According to the report, the rent for such property is about £17,000 a month or more than Rs 15 lakh.
The British daily also uploaded on Twitter a two-minute video in which the reporter confronts the fugitive businessman about the PN scam. Modi, however, refused to answer any question and only responded with “no comment” to each of the question.
On the video, Modi can be seen sporting a handle-bar moustache and wearing an Ostrich Hide jacket, estimated to cost 10,000 pounds or Rs 9 lakh. When journalists from the paper questioned him on various issues, including whether he has urged Britain to grant him asylum, Modi ducked them by saying, "Sorry, no comments".
This is the first visual of the embattled diamond tycoon who fled India in January 2018, just before the PNB scam came to light.
The UK daily cited a source to report that Modi had been given a National Insurance number by the Department for Work and Pensions, allowing him to legally work in Britain and use British bank accounts.
Modi is accused of cheating the state-run Punjab National Bank through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit worth over US $2 billion (about Rs 13,000 crore). His uncle Mehul Choksi is also an accused in the case.
A Red Corner notice was issued by Interpol against Modi last year as part of a joint probe by the ED and the CBI in the case.
Authorities in India have seized his properties and have filed a plea in the UK for his extradition. On Friday, his 30,000 sq ft seaside mansion at Kihim beach in Maharashtra’s Alibaug was demolished. The sprawling mansion of Modi was worth around Rs 40 crore.
Maharashtra government last year wrote to the ED, which had sealed the bungalow, seeking a nod to demolish the property.
Modi's bungalow was attached by the ED following his involvement in the Punjab National Bank fraud case. It was handed over to the collector's office on January 24, after the ED seized two trucks full of valuables from the building.
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