The profile of Nehal Modi, step brother of Punjab National Bank fraud case ‘mastermind’ Nirav Modi who is facing extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom, is back on the Interpol website months after it was removed last year.
Nehal allegedly managed two companies for Nirav Modi, which received $50 million from dummy entities. After the scam was unearthed, he took away diamonds worth $6 million, 3.5 million in UAE dirham, and 50 kg of gold. In Dubai, he also destroyed digital evidence in the form of mobile phones and a server, as alleged.
In another case against his uncle, Mehul Choksi, and others, Nehal has been accused of being in charge of Samuels Jewellers INC and Diamlink Inc that received $19 million from Choksi’s Dubai-based shell companies.
On the request of the Enforcement Directorate, the Interpol had issued a Red Notice against Nehal in September 2019 and it reflected in the Interpol’s online database. However, the profiles of Nehal and his brother Neeshal, against whom the notice was issued in July 2018, were later not available online.
While the agencies then did not have a clear explanation for this, officials said that the action might have been taken pending hearing of their petitions in the Interpol, contesting the basis on which the notices were issued.
Assets attached
The Central Bureau of Investigation and the ED have alleged a scam of ₹13,578 crore by Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others. Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the ED has attached assets worth thousands of crores and also moved the court requesting to declare Nirav Modi a fugitive economic offender.
Also read: Nirav Modi told me he would get me killed, UK court hears from ‘dummy director’
In 2018, the Interpol had also issued notices against Nirav Modi, an Indian national, his sister Purvi, who is also a Belgian national, and aide Subhash Parab. Notices were also issued against Choksi, Aditya Nanavati and Mihir Bhansali.
Choksi is facing extradition proceedings in Antigua and Barbuda, of which he had taken citizenship months before he fled India in January 2018. A U.K. court heard the extradition case against Nirav Modi earlier this month. He was arrested in London in March 2019 and since then he is in judicial custody there.
