Non-bailable warrants issued against Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi

New Delhi: Non-bailable warrants (NBWs) have been issued against Nirav Modi and Mehul Chowksi on Saturday by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai, for their connection with the Punjab National Bank fraud. The court issued the NBWs on applications filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), one of the investigating agencies in the case.

The ED had previously issued three summons to both the accused in over 12,000 crore fraud, directing them to appear before it in February. The CBI also produced other 6 accused in the fraud before a special court seeking police custody for Gokulnath Shetty and judicial custody for the remaining five.

“We issued three summonses to Choksi. He neither responded to those summonses nor appeared before the agency,” special ED prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar had told the court on March 1.

The two billionaires had allegedly fled the country before the cases were even registered against them. Their failure to appear before the ED made it move the PMLA court for issuance of the warrants. The ED had sought from the court to issue NBW against Modi in February.

With PTI inputs