Fugitive Diamantaire Nirav Modi Tracked Down At £ 8 Million London Flat
The UK Daily Telegraph in the early hours of Saturday, published a video and interview with the alleged fugitive, headlined ‘Exclusive: India’s most wanted man Nirav Modi – accused of £1.5 billion fraud -living openly in London’.
The video discloses that the 48-year-old, who is the subject of an deportation request by India and has been issued an Interpol red corner notice, is maintaining a luxury flat near Oxford Street. Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi has commenced a new diamond business in Soho.
As per the report, rent of the three-bedroom flat, occupying half of a floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block, is estimated to cost £17,000/month or Rs 15 lakh.
The UK daily has also released a video of Nirav Modi walking freely on the streets of London. Sporting a handle-bar moustache, wearing an Ostrich Hide jacket, estimated to cost 10,000 pounds, Nirav Modi is no longer bald.
As he is confronted by the newspaper over various allegations levelled against him, Nirav Modi says “no comments” and continues to smile.
The report says despite his bank accounts being frozen by the Indian authorities Nirav Modi is involved in a new diamond business in London. A source has told the the UK daily that Modi had been given a National Insurance number by the Department for Work and Pensions, meaning he can legally work in Britain, and has used British bank accounts.
According to some sources, Nirav Modi seems to have embraced a surprisingly calm attitude to his fugitive status, walking his small dog each day between his apartment and the diamond company’s office in a town house in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his Centre Point home.
Apparently , Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and many others carried out the offence of cheating against Punjab National Bank in collusion with certain bank officials by fraudulently obtaining the LOUs issued while not following prescribed procedure and caused a illegitimate loss to the bank.
Several properties in India and abroad worth 1,725.36 crore were also attached earlier. In addition, gold, diamond, bullions, jewellery and other valuables worth Rs 489.75 crore belonging to Nirav Modi Group were also seized.