Nirav Modi’s brother arrested in US on Indian extradition request

Nehal Modi, the brother of fugitive economic offender Nirav Modi, has been arrested in the United States on an extradition request by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

Nehal Modi is a co-accused in the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.

He was taken into custody in the US shortly after he was released from prison on Friday after serving a nearly-three-year sentence in a cheating case, PTI quoted unidentified officials as saying.

While India had made an extradition request in 2022, it could not be executed as Nehal Modi was in prison in the cheating case, PTI reported.

In its complaint, the prosecution in the US said that the extradition proceedings were being pursued for alleged money laundering under India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act and alleged criminal conspiracy under sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, the newspaper reported.

Nehal Modi is alleged to have assisted in concealing and transferring illicit funds through a network of shell companies and overseas transactions, The Hindu reported.

The extradition matter is expected to be heard in a US court on July 17, PTI reported. Nehal Modi is a Belgian citizen.

The PNB fraud came to light in February 2018 when the bank informed the stock exchange BSE that it had detected “fraudulent and unauthorised transactions”...

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