Nirav Modi Arrested in London, May Get Bail Like Mallya

New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, 48, against whom an arrest warrant was issued by the United Kingdom, was on Wednesday arrested in London in connection with a Rs 13,700 crore scam in India. 

Police in London made the arrest seven days after the London Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi who fled India a month before the scam came to light in 2018, an IANS report said.

“Nirav Deepak Modi, (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement, PTI reported. "He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," the statement added.

According to PTI, the arrest would lead to Modi being produced before a District Judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London to be formally charged, following which he is likely to seek bail. The case, the report said, may follow the same trajectory as another fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s, who is out on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017.

However, on Tuesday, Modi was denied bail and will be in custody till March, 29--the next date of hearing.

The PNB Fraud Case

In the bank fraud, said to be one of the biggest in the history of Indian banking, PNB had reported unauthorised transactions worth ₹13,700 crore in one of its branches in South Mumbai.

Nirav Modi, Nishal Modi, Ami Modi and Mehul Choksi — all partners at Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds, are accused in the case.

Incidentally, Nirav Modi was part of the business delegation that was photographed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Davos during the World Economic Forum summit in January 2018. The PM is also said to have hosted Choksi, who he referred to as ‘Mehul Bhai’ at his residence in Delhi, inviting widespread flak from the opposition.

PNB had claimed that the fraud went undetected since 2011 because the Letters of Undertaking sent through SWIFT were not tallied with the company’s core banking system which is why the management never came to know that these had gone out in the first place.

Nirav Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, the prime accused, had fled India in January last year before the Central Bureau of Investigation started investigating the PNB scam.

Also watch: What’s Going On, Mr. Watchman!

Spotted in London

The fugitive tycoon’s arrest comes days after he was spotted in London by a British journalist working in The Telegraph. According to a clip shared by the newspaper, the billionaire was seen wearing a “much-talked about expensive ostrich hide jacket, and repeatedly said, “no comments.” The jacked is supposed to have cost Rs 10 lakh, as per reports.

In India, the Ministry of External Affairs had confirmed that the fugitive tycoon was in London. In fact, UK’s The Telegraph had even traced him to an £8 million apartment, adding that he was reportedly involved in a ‘new’ diamond business being run from his office in Soho.

“We have been aware of his presence in the UK. Ever since we submitted the extradition request to the UK, the matter is under consideration of the British government," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had told reporters early this month.

At least 36 big-ticket ‘economic offenders’ – like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and others - have fled the country during the Narendra Modi-led government’s tenure, a fact admitted by the government itself in Parliament.

Together, these offenders are responsible for defrauding the public exchequer of an estimated Rs.40,000 crore, as per former external affairs minister of state M.J.Akbar in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on March 14, 2018.

Also read: The Ghost of Corruption Haunts Modi and His Government