Gujrat Court Declares Nirav Modi as Absconder in Custom Duty Evasion Case

A Surat court has declared fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi as an absconder in a case of custom duty evasion. This case was filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against him in 2014 for allegedly avoiding custom duty while importing diamonds.

News agency PTI said that Chief Judicial Magistrate B H Kapadia issued an order to declare Modi an absconder on Oct.10.

The news agency also quoted Public Prosecutor Nayan Sukhadwala as saying that the judge has asked Modi to appear before the court before Nov.15 failing which, the DRI would be granted permission to act against him.

In 2014, the DRI had filed a case against Modi accusing him of evading customs duty while importing diamonds. According to DRI, Modi imported duty-free diamonds through its units in Surat’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) but didn’t follow the import norms.

According to SEZ rules, imported duty-free goods are to be used as raw materials or to be exported further after undergoing some processing or value addition, but in this case, according to DRI, Modi violated these norms and sold the imported diamonds locally. The DRI also alleged that Modi exported low quality diamonds just to comply with SEZ norms.

The DRI had filed an application to declare Modi an absconder under a section 82 of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure).

Nirav Modi is accused of swindling Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs. 13,500 crore including issuance of fraud letters of credits or Letters of Undertakings (LoU). He fled India in January, just before the news of the Punjab National Bank fraud came out. Currently he is in the U.K. seeking asylum. The Indian government revoked his passport earlier this year and made a formal request to UK government for his extradition.