New Delhi, July 5 - US authorities have arrested fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi's younger brother Nihal Modi on the basis of extradition requests from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, officials said on Saturday. The US authorities have informed India about this. They said Nihal Modi was taken into custody on Friday. The next date of hearing in the case is July 17, when Nihal can seek bail, but the US lawyers will oppose it.
The move comes on an extradition request filed jointly by the ED and the CBI. The extradition proceedings led by US prosecutors were conducted on two charges – one charge of money laundering under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 and one charge of criminal conspiracy under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (absconding) of the Indian Penal Code. Notably, Nihal, 46, is accused in the alleged Rs 13,000 crore fraud case involving Punjab National Bank, which is one of the biggest such fraud cases in the world. It has been alleged that the fraud was carried out by the two brothers and their uncle Mehul Choksi.