PNB scam: ED files fresh chargesheet against Nirav Modi, others

ED said the United Kingdom's home secretary recently referred India's request for extraditing the tainted businessman to a court for initiating legal proceedings against him.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a fresh chargesheet against diamantaire Nirav Modi, an accused in the $2-billion PNB scam, and others under the anti-money laundering law, officials said on Monday.

They said the chargesheet or the prosecution complaint has been filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai a few days ago and it is understood that the agency has underlined the role of Modi's wife Ami and funds routed by her in the latest document.

This is a supplementary chargesheet against Modi and few others and the agency has recorded additional evidence gathered in the case and attachments made including charges pressed against him under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, they said.

Other details of the chargesheet were not available immediately.

The development is being seen in the backdrop of a recent British daily report that said Modi is living in a swanky 8-million pound apartment in London's West End and is now involved in a new diamond business.

Modi, 48, is currently living in a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block in London, where rent is estimated to cost 17,000 pounds a month, The Telegraph has reported.

On Saturday, ED said the United Kingdom's home secretary recently referred India's request for extraditing the tainted businessman to a court for initiating legal proceedings against him.

The ED filed the first chargesheet in the case in May last year.

The agency and the CBI are investigating Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others for alleged money laundering and corruption to perpetrate the alleged scam in the Brady House branch of PNB in Mumbai, that was unearthed last year.

It has also attached his assets worth Rs 1,873.08 crore under the PMLA and has seized assets linked to him and his family worth Rs 489.75 crore.