CBI team will fly to London as Nirav Modi’s arrest becomes imminent

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Mar 19, 2019

A Central Bureau of Investigation team will fly from India to the UK within a week to attend a court hearing for fugitive jewellery tycoon Nirav Modi after a  UK court issued an arrest warrant.

Westminster Court issued a formal warrant for Modi’s arrest following the UK Home Secretary’s certification of India’s request to extradite him on March 8. Indian authorities hope to extradite Modi so that he can stand trial for his accused Rs 14,000 crore ($2 billion) fraud at the Punjab National Bank. Modi is expected to be brought before a London court which could start the extradition process.

“The CBI team handling Nirav Modi has been put together and will be flying to London within the next week,” a government official told the Times of India on March 18. “The ED will also be sending someone. They need to give some evidence to the courts and then an arrest is expected to happen soon afterwards so the CBI and ED will be present in court when he is produced before Westminsters’ magistrates court after he is arrested.”

Modi had moved around the UK three times from Central UK to Manchester to London, the Economic Times reported on March 12, as the jeweller attempted to avoid punitive action.