New Delhi, August 20: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday said that the United Kingdom authorities have confirmed fugitive diamantaire  Nirav Modi's presence in the UK. "United Kingdom authorities have confirmed that Nirav Modi is in the UK and CBI has moved an extradition request through proper channels," the CBI said in a statement today.

Nirav Modi is wanted in India as a prime accused in the USD 2 billion loan fraud scam at Punjab National Bank (PNB). In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha last month, Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd) VK Singh had said that an extradition request for Nirav Modi “has been sent by a Special Diplomatic Bag to the High Commission of India (HCI), London, for onward transmission to the UK authorities”.

India falls under the Category 2 set of countries within the UK’s Extradition Act 2003, which require a decision by UK courts as well as the country’s home secretary.

According to information available in the UK, Modi had arrived in London earlier this year on an Indian passport. The UK government was informed about the revocation of the particular passport via a formal Note Verbale from the Indian authorities on February 19, following which the UK Home Office had indicated that the businessman had already entered the UK on that travel document but there was no record of him exiting the country.

It had later emerged that Modi was able to travel in and out of Britain at least four times since his passport was cancelled by the Indian authorities in February.

Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are the main accused in the PNB scam and they both left India before the details of the fraud came to light on January 16. Earlier last month, it had emerged that Choksi has taken citizenship of the Caribbean island of Antigua, following which India moved an extradition request with Antigua.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2018 12:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).