PNB scam: Nirav Modi's sister moves court to get NBW cancelled

Fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi's sister and her husband on Thursday approached a court here seeking cancellation of non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against them in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Purvi Modi, Nirav Modi's younger sister, is a Belgian national while her husband Maiank Mehta is a British citizen.

Both were earlier named as accused in the case, but last month the PMLA court here accepted their plea for turning approver (prosecution witness) in the case and getting a pardon.

The couple, through their lawyers, filed applications before special Prevention of Money Laundering Act judge V C Barde, seeking cancellation of NBWs issued against them.

The court asked the Enforcement Directorate, the probe agency, to file a reply and posted the matter for hearing on February 11.

"Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta turned approver for assisting in the confiscation of two flats in New York, one each in London and Mumbai, balances in two Swiss bank accounts and a bank account in Mumbai totalling Rs 579 crore in the Nirav Modi bank fraud case," the ED had said earlier.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, both declared fugitive, are accused of cheating the PNB of Rs 13,000 crore by fraudulently obtaining Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) from its Brady House branch in Mumbai.

LoUs are issued as bank guarantee to obtain credit from overseas institutions.

Nirav Modi, 49, is presently in a London jail after his arrest there in 2019, and the legal process to extradite him to India on money laundering charges is underway. Choksi is said to be living in Barbuda and Antigua