The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said they have requested the Hong Kong authorities to surrender businessman Nirav Modi and are awaiting a response from their end. In a media briefing today in New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "We are aware of the written reply submitted to Parliament which shared that Nirav Modi is in Hong Kong. Have requested Hongkong authorities to surrender Nirav Modi." The MEA spokesperson further said: "There is an agreement between India and Hong Kong about the surrender of fugitive offenders. We are still awaiting a response. So far we have not received any information about Nirav Modi or about his arrest from the Hong Kong authorities." On February 14, Punjab National Bank (PNB) said it had disclosed an over Rs 13,500-crore fraud allegedly by diamantaires Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi. The duo had managed to flee the country in the first week of January, just days before PNB was able to detect the fraud. Modi was booked by the CBI, along with his wife, brother and Choksi for allegedly cheating the PNB. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed businessman Nirav Modi’s company, Firestar Diamond, to ask him to return to India. A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta issued the direction after the company’s lawyer argued that relief should not be denied to the company on a technicality that Firestar International had authorised the filing of petitions by its subsidiary, Firestar Diamond. The bench told Firestar Diamond and Firestar International’s counsel, Vijay Aggarwal, “If we should not stress upon technicality, then ask Mr Modi to come back to India."
