Nirav Modi travelled from London to Brussels on Indian passport last week

Nirav Modi, the main accused in the Rs 13,000-crore PNB fraud, is still using Indian passport for travelling. There are reports that the diamond merchant used Indian passport for travelling as recently as last week on June 12, when he took Eurostar train to travel from London to Brussels. Though Indian government has revoked Modi’s passport on February 24, he is still using Indian documents to travel as no red corner notice has been issued against him.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) moved the Interpol only last week on June 11 for a red corner notice. The agency did so after a charge sheet was recently filed against Modi. Since Interpol sometime rejects requests for red corner notice in the absence of a charge sheet, CBI waited for the charge sheet to be filed to move red corner notice against Modi.

With Interpol being approached for red corner notice just recently, Modi could have availed of the window to travel to Brussels. His frequent travels, despite revocation of his passport, has raised suspicion of him holding more than one passport. According to some reports Modi has at least 6 different passports from Belgium, Singapore and possibly from Morocco.

In a separate report, Modi has also believed to have filed permanent residency application in Singapore. In his application, he had mentioned his profession as businessman earning net monthly salary of 1,50,000 Singaporean dollar (approx Rs 75 lakh). The application also mentioned that he was holding an Indian passport valid till May 8, 2027.

Modi, his uncle Nirav Choksi and others are being probed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, following a complaint from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each in connection with the case. Both Modi and Choksi are said to have left the country before the criminal cases were lodged.