Finding NiMo: Nirav Modi & kin left India by Jan 6

NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: Both the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate moved the ministry of external affairs on Thursday to revoke the passport of billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi, accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 11,300 crore,+ even as doubts rose about whether he has citizenship or permanent resident status of some other country as well.
Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal and uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi all left the country in the first week of January. Modi was last seen in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum's annual meet in Davos (January 23-26). Ami is said to be an American citizen, while Nishal is a Belgian national. With his operations spread across the world, Modi is said to spend a lot of time in the US.

Some associates in the diamond trade claim to have seen him use a Belgian passport while travelling. They added that Modi used to frequently visit India, but had cut down on his visits in the last two years. “He often said there was little time to fly down to India. But he was quick to add that he was just a phone call away for friends who were never separated by distance,” said an associate.



Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a press conference that the government had taken action to revoke Modi and Choksi’s passports. Sources in the CBI and ED told TOI that Modi and Choksi have Indian passports, which will be revoked shortly. Once done, this would restrict their travel anywhere and make it easier for investigating agencies to trace them.



Government sources said CBI may seek Interpol’s help to trace Modi and the others, as prima facie there is strong evidence against them. PNB had approached CBI with a complaint pertaining to fraud of Rs 281 crore on January 29, following which the agency filed an FIR on January 31 for criminal conspiracy and cheating and under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Nirav, Nishal, Ami and Choksi. The CBI and ED moved for issuing look-out circulars against these four on January 31.

The LoC was issued four days later at all airports, ports and other entry-exit points. However, it was too late by then as the accused had long since left the country. While Nirav left on January 1 along with Nishal, Choksi left on January 4, followed by Ami on January 6. “This shows planning in advance and suggests that they had prior information of PNB planning to file a complaint with CBI. We will look into this,” said an investigating agency source.

CBI is also probing why PNB gave complaints against Nirav Modi in tranches instead of handing over the two other complaints pertaining to the Rs 11,300 crore fraud as well on January 29. PNB submitted two more complaints to CBI on Wednesday itself. “There appears to be a strong insider role in the way things have panned out,” said an officer.