Nirav Modi had earlier declined to return to the country
In a sign of mounting troubles for celebrity designer Nirav Modi and uncle Mehul Choksi, a Mumbai court has issued non-bailable warrants against the two millionaires who had refused to return to the country to face the probe in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.
The arrest warrants were issued at the request of the CBI or Central Bureau of Investigation, which is leading part of the multi-agency crackdown on the businessmen.
The CBI is also questioning some officials at overseas branches of Indian banks which issued loans to companies owned by the two jewellers against bank guarantees - later shown to have been fraudulently issued by certain rogue employees at PNB.
This week, the government told parliament that a request for Nirav Modi's provisional arrest had been sent to Hong Kong on March 23.
The government had cancelled the passports of the two diamond merchants after the CBI filed the first case in February for illegally getting guarantee letters from Punjab National Bank officials.
Nirav Modi, his wife, brother Nishal and uncle Mehul Choksi allegedly worked with bank officials to illegally obtain Letters of Undertaking, which were cashed overseas from different banks.
All four left the country in the first week of January, long before the government and the state-run bank detected the fraud worth Rs 12,700 crores.
The Congress and other opposition parties have repeatedly questioned how Nirav Modi was allowed to fly abroad and also be part of PM Modi's business delegation to Davos in January.
The government responded by setting out half-a-dozen central agencies to probe the businesses that they had left behind. Over the next two month, these agencies have temporarily seized properties worth thousands of crores that led them to shut down their outlets in several parts of the country.
The centre has also drawn up a law to deal with such cases of fugitive economic offenders that empowers the government to confiscate all assets of absconding fraudsters and loan defaulters to recover dues.