NEW DELHI: CBI – the nodal agency for Interpol in India – on Monday blamed the international police body for not informing it about PNB scam accused Nirav Modi’s travels between different countries using his revoked Indian passport even though all details were incorporated in Interpol’s central database on February 24 and repeated reminders were sent in April and May.
“After the passport was revoked/cancelled, we had updated this information in the diffusion notice. Information that Nirav Modi’s passport had been revoked was provided in the Interpol central database, available to all member countries, on February 24,” CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said. CBI had informed Interpol that Modi’s passport had been renewed four times, hence he was carrying five linked passports.
Modi has travelled to the UK, France, the US, Hong Kong and Belgium in the last three-four months, mostly using his revoked Indian passport (no Z1781888). This included his train journey on June 12 from London to Brussels.
After registering cases in the Rs 13,000 crore fraud, CBI had approached Interpol on February 15 seeking a ‘diffusion notice’ against Modi and his family members, according to which all 192 Interpol member countries are supposed to inform about the suspect’s movements to the requesting country. Based on suspicion as to where he could travel, CBI had written to six Interpol member countries – the UK, the US, Singapore, Belgium, France and the UAE. Reminders were sent to these countries through Interpol’s Manchester (UK) office on April 25, May 22, May 24 and May 28. Similarly, five other countries were also approached.Only the UK Interpol office shared information that Modi travelled from London’s Heathrow airport to Hong Kong on March 15, from New York’s JFK airport to Heathrow on March 28 and from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle, Paris, on March 31.
This is not the first time that India’s request has been being ignored by the international police agency. Earlier, Interpol refused to issue a red corner notice (an international warrant for the arrest of a suspect) for Zakir Naik, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi.
When contacted by media, Interpol said, “If or when police in any of Interpol’s 192 member countries share information with the general secretariat in Lyon in relation to investigations and fugitives, this information remains under the ownership of that member country. Interpol does not therefore comment on specific cases or individuals except in special circumstances and with approval of the member country concerned.”
Prasanta Patnaik 
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