Nirav Modi’s aide brought back from Cairo; sent to CBI custody

NEW DELHI: Subhash Shankar Parab, a close confidante of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who fled to Egypt in 2018, was brought to India on Tuesday morning after being deported and was arrested by the CBI, people familiar with the matter said.

Parab, 49, has been in hiding in Cairo since the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud worth ₹13,578 crore was unearthed in early 2018.

He fled India on January 1, 2018, around the same time Nirav left the country. A charge sheet was filed against him, Nirav and 20 others in May 2018 after which, an Interpol red notice was also issued. Considered very close to Nirav and his brother Nehal Modi, Parab was deputy general manager (DGM) of finance (operations) in Firestar International Pvt Ltd since 2015 and party to all financial transactions of the company.

While seeking his custody for 14 days in a Mumbai court, CBI said on Tuesday Parab looked after banking related activities of three other companies also – Diamonds R Us, Stellar Diamond and Solar Exports.

“He was a close confidante of Nirav Modi and was directly reporting to him and has knowledge of fraudulent activities of Nirav Modi. There are several original Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) applications issued on behalf of three firms which are yet to be recovered,” said CBI.

“He was heading the banking operations department of the company and applications for fraudulent LOUs and supporting documents were issued on his instructions.

Parab knew that the three firms didn’t have credit facilities with PNB and couldn’t provide 100% cash margin for issuing LOUs,” it added.