A special CBI court while refusing bail on Wednesday to a former manager of Nirav Modi’s firm Firestar International Ltd. has said that prima facie he was part of conspiracy with main accused Modi.
This was the third bail application filed by Miten Pandya. The court said that it is prima facie seen that the accused was working as the manager (finance) of Firestar company and he was part of conspiracy with main accused and others and that a major role is alleged to have been played by him in concealment of documents used in crime with the motive to destroy them.
Nirav Modi is facing extradition in the UK, it said, and added that Neeshal Modi (Nirav’s brother) and another accused are absconding with non-bailable warrants pending against them.
One of the grounds of the plea was that the main accused Nirav Modi has been arrested in London and is facing extradition proceedings. The CBI had responded that the proceedings are at a crucial stage. The court said about this ground that it is pertinent to note that in this case, not only Nirav Modi, but also Neeshal Modi and another accused who are absconding and are reported to be out of the country.
Another ground was that the supplementary chargesheet was filed in the case. The court noted the magnitude of the fraud as alleged by the CBI at Rs. 6,948 crores, of which the public sector Punjab National Bank was defrauded and that investigations are still on.
The CBI had expressed apprehensions that Pandya could tamper evidence and pointed out that he had done it in the past. The court opined that in view of his earlier conduct of tampering evidence after registration of FIR, it cannot exercise the discretion to release him on bail.
