Nirav Modi case: ED recovers Rs 17 cr from his sister’s bank account in UK

Purvi Modi, Nirav Modi's sister who has turned an approver in the money laundering case against him, informed the ED about the account.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday said it has recovered Rs 17.25 crore from an account in the United Kingdom belonging to Purvi Modi which was opened by fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi.

Purvi Modi, Nirav Modi’s sister who has turned an approver in the money laundering case against him, informed the ED about the account. The ED, in a statement, said the money did not belong to Purvi and the account was being operated by Nirav Modi.

Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of routing transactions of about Rs 13,600 crore through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) of Punjab National Bank (PNB). Both are being investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Modi left India in the first week of January 2018 before the PNB scam became public. In March 2019, Modi was arrested in the UK and is currently lodged at Wandsworth prison in London.

So far, the ED has seized assets worth Rs 2,400 crore belonging to Modi in India and abroad.

Earlier this week, Modi moved the UK high court for an oral hearing with a renewed “leave to appeal” application for a judge to determine if it can proceed to a full appeal hearing against the extradition ordered by a lower court.

In April, the UK government approved the extradition of Modi to India following a UK court’s February order that ordered Modi’s extradition holding that the evidence against him was prima facie sufficient to order his extradition to India, to face charges.

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