Mumbai, A special CBI court in Mumbai on Monday rejected a petition filed by fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi‘s sister Purvi, seeking permission to record her statement in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case through video conferencing.
Nirav Modi, currently lodged in a London jail, is a prime accused in the 2018 case.
Purvi Modi, the diamond merchant’s younger sister and a Belgian national, has already filed a plea before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court for turning approver in the case.
The CBI previously insisted that before her plea to turn approver is decided, her statement needs to be recorded.
Purvi Modi’s lawyer earlier requested the court to allow her to give statement through video conferencing.
However, Special CBI Court Judge Subash Karhale rejected her plea.
Both Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta have already turned approver in a related money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Purvi Modi was arraigned as an accused in the alleged bank fraud case where multiple chargesheets have been filed by the ED and also the CBI.
Nirav Modi, his uncle, diamond trader Mehul Choksi, and others are being probed by the ED on money laundering charges since 2018 for allegedly perpetrating an over USD 2 billion (more than Rs 13,000 crore then) fraud in connivance with bank officials and by issuance of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) at the Brady House PNB branch in south Mumbai.
