The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday sought 14-day custody of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi’s close aid Subhash Shankar Parab in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case.
Subhash was produced before a special CBI court for remand hearing after being deported to India earlier in day.
The 49-year-old, believed to be the right hand man of Nirav Modi and a senior director in the firms – Firestar Diamond International Ltd and Diamond R US – in Dubai, had played a key role in the ₹13,578-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. He fled to Cairo from Dubai in January 2018, around the time when Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi fled India along with their families.
A senior CBI officer said Parab, who directly reported to Modi, was brought to Mumbai and put under arrest upon his arrival. He will be produced before a Mumbai court to be taken into custody.
Investigation in the PNB fraud revealed that Parab personally supervised the collection of letters of undertaking (LoUs), fraudulently issued in connivance with PNB official Gokulnath Shetty.
According to investigators, Parab was personally in-charge of monitoring the incoming and outgoing money transfers of six Hong Kong corporates that received nearly Rs 8,200 crore from PNB’s letters of undertaking (LoUs) on Modi’s behalf.
After the scam was revealed in early 2018, Parab fled to Cairo, around the same time Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi also fled India.
Parab will be brought before a Mumbai court soon to be taken into custody. In 2018, a charge sheet was filed against him. Modi and Choksi have been classified as fugitive economic offenders. Modi is currently imprisoned in the Wandsworth prison on the outskirts of London in the United Kingdom. Choksi was last said to be in Antigua and Barbuda.
(With inputs from agencies)
