Declare Nirav, his brother and associate proclaimed offenders, CBI tells special court

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) moved a plea in the special court on Wednesday to declare Nirav Modi, his brother Neeshal Modi and one of his key associates Subhash Parab proclaimed offenders and to also attach their properties.

If the proclamation order is issued, the three would be asked to appear in court within 30 days of the order, failing which, the court would proceed to move for attachment of their properties in India.

The agency is probing the ₹14,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case in which Nirav is one of the key accused. CBI had registered cases against Nirav and his uncle Mehul Choksi in 2018 for cheating PNB by fraudulently obtaining letters of undertaking (LOUs) and defaulting on their payments.

The CBI had shown the three as wanted in the case, and obtained warrants against them last year, when the agency filed the charge sheet. However, CBI claimed the warrant could not be executed and the three could not be arrested as they were not available at their addresses.

In their plea on Wednesday, CBI lawyer, A Limosin, said the accused left the country prior to the case being registered.

While Nirav was arrested in London in March this year, his extradition process to India is pending. CBI also said that Neeshal and Subhash’s whereabouts are unknown and added that they had left to avoid the process the law.

Since the warrants were not executed, CBI sought to declare the trio as proclaimed offenders.