PNB Scam: Nirav Modi refuses to return to India

Nirav Modi has refused CBI's summons to return to India, saying he was too busy with his businesses abroad.

The whereabouts of Modi, the man behind the Punjab National Bank scam, is currently unknown.

Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi is wanted for defrauding state-run Punjab National Bank of Rs 12,600 crore. Responding to the CBI's summons asking him to appear before it for questioning, Modi reportedly wrote back saying, “I have business to run here. Won’t be able to join.”

The Enforcement Directirate on Thursday attached 41 properties belonging to Choksi worth Rs 1,200 crore. These include 15 flats and 17 office premises in Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, a farmhouse, land in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and a 170-acre park in Hyderabad's Ranga Reddy district.

On February 24, Choksi penned a letter to his employees claiming innocence the case registered against him. “With recent false allegations levelled against me of defrauding the PNB Bank and media frenzy, the situation has gone grave, which is turning graver by the day,” Choksi wrote in the letter. He also urged his employees to look out for other career options and said he wouldn't be able to clear their dues.

Modi had also penned a similar letter to his employees and accused the Punjab National Bank of destroying his reputation and brand.

Modi wrote: "The media suggests that the liability of the Nirav Modi Group is over Rs 11,000 crores. As you are aware, this is entirely incorrect and the liability of the Nirav Modi Group is substantially less. Even after your complaint was filed, in good faith I wrote to you saying please sell/ allow me to sell Firestar Group, or their valuable assets, and recover the moneys that may be found due not just from Firestar Group, but also from the three firms. The valuation of the business was approximately Rs 6,500 crores which could have helped reduce/discharge the debt to the banking system. "