Punjab National Bank fraud case: Nirav Modi declared fugitive economic offender

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on December 5 declared Nirav Modi, prime accused in the over $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam a fugitive economic offender.

He is the second person, after Vijay Mallya, to be charged under the newly-promulgated Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act that was passed last year.

The Special court passed the order on the plea of Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Watch: Why is Nirav Modi threatening suicide?

Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are accused in the multi-crore scam that has rattled the country and economy.

The scam started in 2011 and was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned agencies.

Meanwhile, the PNB filed a second complaint with the CBI on February 13.

The CBI had received the complaint from the PNB on January 28 and a case was registered in the case on January 31.

(With inputs from ANI)