Interpol issues red corner notice against Nirav

In further trouble for Nirav Modi, the Interpol has issued a red corner notice against the fugitive diamantaire, his brother Neeshal Deepak and close aide Parab Subhash in connection with the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

The Interpol notice issued on June 29 and publicised on Monday came after the CBI approached the international body with requests from various investigating agencies amid reports that Nirav was located in the United Kingdom and is seeking asylum there. With this, the Lyon-headquartered Interpol has asked its 192 member countries to arrest or detain the person if he is spotted in their countries.

The notice, issued on the basis of charge sheets filed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) separately in special courts in Mumbai and an arrest warrant issued against Nirav recently. Nirav and others are facing multiple probes by CBI and Enforcement Directorate.

The Interpol notice provides details of all the five passports of Nirav issued between May 2008 and May 2017 besides that these have been revoked by the government. The CBI has also provided the Interpol with four addresses of Nirav in New York - Manhattan, East Chester and Central, and one of Dubai in Al Bayan.

Nirav, his wife Ami, brother Neeshal and uncle Mehul Choksi, another jeweller, had fled India separately in the first week of January, a week before the PNB approached CBI against them in connection with the fraudulent issuance of Letters of Understanding (LoU) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) through which they are suspected to have defrauded the bank to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore.

Nirav and Choksi had earlier refused to return to India to join probe citing business and health reasons among others. In a recent letter, Choksi claimed that he fears that he will be lynched if he returns to India.

Soon after the CBI case was registered on January 30, the CBI had issued a diffusion notice with the Interpol to track Modi and Choksi but their whereabouts remain unknown.

A diffusion notice is less formal than a notice but is also used to request the arrest or location of an individual or additional information in relation to a police investigation while a Red Corner Notice will allow enforcement agencies of the member countries of Interpol to try to find and arrest them in their respective countries.

Nirav also managed to travel to several countries despite his passport being revoked by the government and flashed in the Interpol central database on February 24, the CBI has said.

"After the passport was revoked by the Ministry of External Affairs, we had updated this information in the diffusion notice. The information that Nirav Modi's passport has been revoked was provided in the Interpol central database, available to all the member countries, on February 24," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal had said.