Nirav Modi
(L-R) Naomi Watts, Nirav Modi, and Deborra-Lee Furness attend the Nirav Modi U.S. Boutique grand opening at Nirav Modi Boutique on September 8, 2015, in New York City.Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Initiating a fresh round of action, the Enforcement Directorate Monday said it has attached assets worth Rs 637 crore of absconding jeweler Nirav Modi and his family in India and four other countries in connection with the USD 2 billion alleged fraud in the PNB.

The agency said the properties, jewellery, flats, and bank balances are in India, UK and New York among others.

There are only very few cases where Indian agencies have attached assets abroad in a criminal probe.

The assets have been attached as part of five separate orders issued by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said.

The agency, a senior official said, also got issued an Interpol Red Corner notice (global arrest warrant) against Aditya Nanavati, an accused in the same case, on charges of money laundering.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the main accused in the case where it is alleged that the two diamond jewellery businessmen allegedly duped and defrauded the Brady House branch of the Punjab National Bank in Mumbai for an amount of USD 2 billion (about 13,000 crores) in purported connivance with bank officials. 

Nirav modi
Activists of the youth wing of India's main opposition Congress party burn a cut-out with an image of billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi.reuters