World News | PM Modi Seeks UK's Cooperation in Extradition of Economic Offenders to India

London, Jul 24 (PTI) With India seeking extradition of a number of billionaire fugitives from the UK, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the concerned agencies of the two sides will continue to work in "close" coordination and cooperation on the matter.

The prime minister made the remarks after meeting his British counterpart Keir Starmer at Chequers, the countryside residence of the British PM.

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"On the matter of extradition of economic offenders as well, our agencies will continue to work together in close coordination and cooperation," Modi said in his media statement.

India has been raising with the UK the issue of extradition of economic offenders such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.

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At a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said PM Modi sought the UK's cooperation to bring to justice the economic offenders and fugitives.

Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant, is wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges in an estimated USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case.

Mallya, who fled to the United Kingdom in March 2016, is wanted in India over a default of Rs 9,000 crore that was loaned to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) by several banks.

Lalit Modi is also wanted by Indian probe agencies for his alleged involvement in money laundering and violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)