INDIAN jeweller Nirav Modi had been arrested in London on behalf of the Indian authorities, British police said today (20).
India had asked Britain, in August, to extradite Modi, one of the main suspects charged in the £1.51 billion ($2bn) loan fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), India’s biggest banking fraud.
Police said Modi, 48, had been arrested in the Holborn area of central London yesterday (19) and was due to appear at London's Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday (20).
Punjab National Bank, India’s second-largest state-run bank, in 2018 said that two jewelry groups headed by Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had defrauded it by raising credit from other Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued by rogue PNB staff.
Modi and Choksi, who have both denied wrongdoing, left India before the details of the fraud became public.
In December, a British court agreed that another high-profile Indian businessman, aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya, could be extradited to his homeland to face fraud charges. Mallya is currently appealing the decision.
(Reuters)
Reena Barai, chair of the PB Conference, on the podium with Sadik Al-Hasan, Harry McQuillan, Shilpa Shah and Nick Kaye on stage
Yasmin Karsan, Pritee Panchmatia and Fin McCaul
Baba Akomolafe, Rachna Chhatralia, Patricia Tigenoah-Ojo and Raj Matharu
Shailesh Solanki 
Reena Barai 
Janet Morrison
David Webb 