Interpol red corner notice for Nirav in PNB fraud case
Interpol has finally issued a red corner notice (RCN) against jeweller Nirav Modi and two others after the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate approached the international agency to locate the billionaire who is accused in a multi-crore Punjab National Bank fraud.
An RCN issued by Interpol urges its 192 members to detain or arrest an accused who is wanted in a country. The Interpol has released Modi’s photo and has shared his age and other details on its website.
The agency also issued RCNs against Modi’s brother Nishal and an employee at his firm, Subhash Parab.
The investigating agencies have filed charge sheets against Modi in connection with the ₹13,000-crore fraud involving the country’s second-largest public lender. The 47-year-old, who left India in January for an unknown location, and his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, who is also a diamond trader, allegedly diverted large sums of loans issued .
Interpol has cited money laundering charges brought by ED to request its 192 member countries for cooperation to detain and arrest the fugitive jeweller.
The ministry of external affairs has written to several European countries, seeking help in tracing Modi even as it asserted that he did not have more than one Indian passport in his possession. There were reports that Modi may have visited the UK, France and Belgium in the past few weeks.
Sources in the two investigating agencies, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that Interpol had informed India that Modi has been carrying five Indian passports, which were issued to him from 2008 onwards, as he applied for them, citing exhaustion of pages in the books.
Though all of these passports were revoked, Modi was reported to have travelled to various countries, prompting CBI in February to get a diffusion notice against him through Interpol.