ED attaches Nirav Modi's movable properties worth ₹253 cr, total seized assets reach ₹2,650.07 cr

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable properties like gems, jewellery and bank balances amounting to ₹253.62 crore in the case of Nirav Modi group of companies in Hong Kong, the agency said on Friday. 

With this, total worth of attached seized assets of Modi in the case has reached ₹2,650.07 crore. 

Some assets of Nirav Modi group of companies in Hong Kong were identified in the form of gems and jewelleries lying in private vaults and bank balances in accounts maintained there and these have been provisionally attached under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.

Nirav Modi is presently lodged in a UK jail and has lost his extradition plea to India in connection with the USD 2-billion PNB fraud case.

The 51-year-old diamond merchant had lodged an appeal last year against his extradition order on mental health grounds.

The High Court in London will likely hear evidence in October from two psychiatrists on their differing views over the level of suicide risk posed by him. 

If Modi wins this appeal hearing in the High Court, he cannot be extradited unless the Indian government is successful in getting permission to appeal at the Supreme Court on a point of law of public importance.

On the flip side, if he loses this appeal hearing, Modi can approach the Supreme Court on a point of law of public importance, to be applied for to the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision within 14 days of a High Court verdict. However, this involves a high threshold as appeals to the Supreme Court can only be made if the High Court has certified that the case involves a point of law of general public importance.

Finally, after all avenues in the UK courts are exhausted, the diamantaire could still seek a so-called Rule 39 injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.

According to officials familiar with the case, the Indian government has given assurances about the conditions in which Modi will be detained if surrendered to India and the facilities that will be available to care for his “physical and mental health”.

Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

He also faces two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death”, which were added to the CBI case.