SC dismisses plea seeking SIT probe in PNB scam

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam against Nirav Modi.

Attorney general K K Venugopal said that the plea made baseless allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Finance Minister in the scam.

The apex court stated that the PIL is a devoid of merit and the allegations made in it are unwarranted and reckless.

This comes after a Red Corner Notice was issued against the absconding diamantaire by the Interpol in connection on Monday.

Interpol has also issued Red Corner Notice against Nirav's brother Nishal Modi and his company's executive Subhash Parab in connection with the scam.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier requested the Interpol to issue the notice against Nirav, who is wanted in India in the money laundering case.

Nirav, who is at the centre of the multi-crore bank fraud, is reportedly in the UK and needs to be extradited as non-bailable warrants (NBW) are already issued against him.

On June 28, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official said India has requested a group of countries to deny entry to Nirav.

The Ministry also sought assistance from some European countries including France, United Kingdom, and Belgium to trace and restrict Nirav's movements.

For those unversed, the PNB detected the multi-crore scam this year, wherein Nirav and his uncle-cum-business-partner Mehul Choksi had allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of USD 2 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.