PNB scam: Fraudster Nirav Modi faces fresh FIR for using multiple Indian passports

Absconding diamond merchant and PNB bank scam fraudster Nirav Modi has been allegedly on using multiple Indian Passports. Investigative agencies probing the alleged $2 billion Punjab National Bank scam reports that Nirav Modi possessed at least half-a-dozen Indian passports and a fresh FIR is being mulled against him for this offence, officials said on Sunday.

According to the reports, Nirav Modi has been traced to Belgium by Indian intelligence agencies and his frequent travels, despite the revocation of his passport, have led the sleuths to unearth that of the six passports he held, two were active for quite some time.

"It is a criminal offence to use a revoked passport and also to possess more than one valid passport if a person does not enjoy a special status like that of a diplomatic entity, a government employee or on a few other grounds.

"A fresh criminal FIR may be filed against Nirav Modi and he may face prosecution for the offence after the completion of an internal inquiry," a senior official in the security establishment said.

The four other passports of Modi were found to be not active, sources said. Out of the two active passports, one had Nirav Modi's full name while the other passport had only his first name on it with a 40-month-UK visa issued against it. With the help of this passports, he kept travelling to various countries, despite the government revoking his first known passport earlier this year, the sources told PTI.

The sources said the government, through the ministry of external affairs, has informed the Interpol about the two revoked passports of Nirav Modi, but it appears that in the absence of a uniform international mechanism, the legal blocking of the documents in various countries could not be done and the fugitive diamantaire kept using those to travel through airports and possibly seaports too.