Fugitive businessman Nirav Modi is currently in a jail awaiting India's extradition request. The 48-year-old, who has been lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his arrest in March in connection with the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.
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Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated that the Switzerland government froze four of his Swiss bank accounts which had several transactions sent to Dubai and Hong Kong and further had deposits worth ₹286 crores. The judges in London had stated that Nirav Modi has access to financial resources considerably as he had first offered a bail amount of 50,000 pounds and later offered 2 million pounds.
Modi was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers on an extradition warrant on March 19 and has been in prison since. During subsequent hearings, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told that Modi was the "principal beneficiary" of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.
Notably, Nirav Modi's bail applications have been rejected by England's court and Mehul Choksi has attained citizenship in Antigua. However, Antigua PM Gaston Browne agreed to revoke his citizenship after massive diplomatic pressure from India.
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