NEW DELHI: The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Monday issued a red corner notice (RCN) against diamantaire Nirav Modi in connection with the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.
Along with Nirav Modi, Interpol RCN has been issued against his brother Neeshal Modi and close aide Subhash Parab in Rs 13,578 crore PNB scam.
Sources say that the red corner notices have been issued against Nirav Modi, Neeshal Modi and Subhash Parab in CBI & ED case related to cheating, criminal conspiracy, corruption & money laundering.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had approached Interpol last month seeking issuance of RCN against Nirav Modi.
In its Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued against a fugitive, the Interpol asks its 192 member countries to arrest or detain the person if spotted in their countries after which extradition or deportation proceedings can begin.
The CBI had tried to track the movements of Nirav Modi through a diffusion notice issued through the Interpol on February 15, but it had limited success as only the United Kingdom responded to the CBI request, they said.
Nirav Modi managed to travel across several countries even after information about his passport being revoked by the Indian government was flashed in the Interpol central database on February 24, the CBI had earlier said.
“After the passport was revoked/cancelled by the External Affairs Ministry, we had updated this information in the diffusion notice. The information that Nirav Modi’s passport has been revoked was provided in the Interpol central database, available to all the member countries, on February 24,” CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal had said.
He had said that after the “diffusion” notice was issued by the Interpol on the request of the CBI, the agency followed it up with six countries where Nirav Modi was suspected to have fled. The agency requested these countries to share information about his whereabouts and movements.
The agency sent these reminders to the Interpol coordination agency of the United Kingdom on April 25, May 22, May 24 and May 28.
Similar reminders were also sent to the agencies of the US, Singapore, Belgium, the UAE and France, they said.
Nirav Modi along with his wife Ami — a US citizen, brother Nishal — a Belgian, and uncle Mehul Choksi — Gitanjali group’s promoter, had fled the country in January first week this year, before the PNB approached CBI with a complaint against his companies for allegedly cheating through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs).
CBI has charged both Nirav Modi and Choksi separately.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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