CBI Emails Nirav Modi, He Refuses To Join Investigation

New Delhi: Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi has refused to join a CBI investigation into an alleged fraud involving his companies and the country's second biggest state lender, Punjab National Bank, officials of the investigating agency said today.

The CBI or Central Bureau of Investigation, which is leading part of the multi-agency crackdown on the businessman, has said it does not know where Nirav Modi is.

The agency had earlier said he left India in January before PNB reported the $2 billion fraud, which also involves a firm controlled by his uncle Mehul Choksi.

Yesterday, a Mumbai court had also summoned the billionaire, counted among the richest Indians, in an income tax evasion case against him and his companies.

Tax officials today said they had got a Look Out Circular, also known as a blue corner notice, issued against Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to keep a tab on their entry at all land, air and sea ports in the country, according to news agency PTI.

The CBI had already put out an alert on him earlier.

The CBI had emailed Nirav Modi on his official ID asking him to join investigations. In his reply, the celebrity jeweller said that since he has businesses abroad, he will not be able to join the investigation.

The agency has written back to him today directing him to immediately contact the embassy of the country he is in so that he can be brought back to India. It has informed him that it is mandatory for him to appear before the CBI and join investigations next week.

Investigators allege that some employees at a Mumbai branch of the Punjab National Bank colluded with firms linked to Mr Modi and Mr Choksi, wanted in the Rs. 11,400 crore fraud. The bank alleges the employees issued unauthorised letters of undertaking, or guarantees that allowed the firms to secure credit from overseas branches of other, mostly Indian banks.