CBI set to seek Interpol warrant on Nirav, uncle

A week after filing chargesheet in the alleged ` 13,400 crore Punjab National Bank ( PNB) fraud case involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the CBI is now preparing to request the Interpol for issuing the red corner notice against the duo.

Sources in the agency said, “The chargesheet filed by the CBI in this case will certainly help the agency in expediting the extradition process against Nirav Modi and Choksi. Besides, the CBI will soon move the Interpol for issuance of a Red Corner Notice ( RCN) against Modi and Choksi in connection with the case. The process for getting the RCN issued against the duo has already been initiated”.

The ministry of external affairs ( MEA) had in February this year revoked the passports of Modi and Choksi, after the duo failed to furnish their replies to a notice from the MEA in the stipulated time of one week.

A red corner notice is issued “to seek the arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action” in a criminal case probe. “Once an RCN is issued, the Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world and notifies that country to take his or her custody for further action at their end,” sources said.

The CBI last week filed its first chargesheet in the alleged ` 13,400 crore PNB fraud case involving Modi and his uncle Choksi. In the chargesheet, the agency detailed the role of the bank’s former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian, who is now Allahabad Bank CEO and MD. The CBI chargesheet, filed in Mumbai sessions court, also named several other top officials of the bank, including PNB executive directors K. V. Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and general manager ( international operations) Nehal Ahad.

The agency, in its chargesheet, detailed the roles of Mr Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Subhash Parab, an executive in Nirav Modi’s company. The chargesheet basically deals with the first FIR registered in the case relating to the fraudulent issuance over ` 6,000 crore of Letters of Undertaking to Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds. However, the CBI has not given in detail the role of Mehul Choksi in the present chargesheet. Choksi’s role is likely to come up when the CBI files supplementary chargesheets in the case related to the probe of the Gitanjali group.