Govt seeks provisional arrest of Nirav Modi, sends request to Hong Kong

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has sought provisional arrest of jeweller Nirav Modi by the Hong Kong government in billion dollar fraud case, informed Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh on Thursday.

V.K. Singh's written reply to the Rajya Sabha came after he was asked about the whereabouts of Modi and his partner and maternal uncle Mehul Choksi.

The duo is prime accused in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

The minister also revealed that the request in this regard was submitted on March 23.

Earlier today, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned four Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials in connection with the case.

Three chief general managers and one general manager of the Reserve Bank of India were questioned by the CBI.

PNB, in February, detected the scam, wherein Modi and Choksi had acquired letters of undertaking (LoUs) separately to avail credit from various sources and did not repay the loan.

The scam, which reportedly began in 2011, was detected in the third week of January this year after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned agencies.

The CBI received the complaint from the PNB on January 28, and a case was registered in the case on January 31.