E-Paper
Court asks Nirav, 2 others to appear before it in Jan or be declared ‘proclaimed offenders’
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday issued a proclamation against Nirav Modi, his brother Neeshal, and his close aide Subhash Parab,
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday issued a proclamation against Nirav Modi, his brother Neeshal, and his close aide Subhash Parab, directing all three to appear in court by mid-January.
The three are among the accused in the cases of fraud and money-laundering at Punjab National Bank (PNB).
If they do not present themselves before the court within the stipulated time, the court may declare them proclaimed offenders, which would allow agencies to confiscate their assets in India.
In 2018, CBI registered cases against Nirav, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others for cheating PNB by fraudulently obtaining letters of undertaking (LOUs) from the bank and defaulting on payments.
The agency had also obtained arrest warrants, but these could not be executed since the accused could not be found at their known addresses.
In March this year, Nirav was arrested in London and is presently in Wandsworth Prison, in the United Kingdom.
CBI attempted to start the extradition process for Neeshal, who was believed to be in Belgium earlier this year.
CBI had moved a plea in August to declare Nirav, Neeshal and Parab proclaimed offenders on account of them absconding or not presenting themselves before court.
On Wednesday, CBI’s legal counsel A Lemosin submitted that the accused left the country prior to registration of the case in order to avoid the process of the law.
When the court had begun to pronounce the order, Nirav’s lawyer Rahul Agrawal moved an application to grant him a hearing before declaring him a proclaimed offender.
The court continued to pass the order issuing notice against the trio, and didn’t not consider Nirav’s plea.
