Nirav Modi Case: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 31) suggested to Manak Mehta, brother-in-law of fugitive Nirav Modi, that he should consider providing a warrant to the CBI to access his foreign bank accounts. The CBI has alleged that Mehta received huge amounts of money in the PNB fraud scam, in which Nirav Modi is the main accused. The probe agency also alleged that Mehta transferred money to his and his wife’s foreign bank accounts.
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud suggested to Mehta’s counsel that he could give a letter of authority to a designated officer of the CBI to access the bank details and the matter would be over; if not, the court would have to accept the CBI’s plea and decide on it. Will happen. The CBI counsel said that Mehta had refused to give the authority letter and as a result, the agency had to issue a Letter Rogatory (LR). The lawyer said, “No response has been received on the LR. We have written to the embassy (in Singapore) to take it forward.”
What did CBI say?
The CBI’s counsel further argued that they suspect that a large amount has gone into those accounts. Mehta is a foreign national and his wife is a Belgian citizen. Once he leaves the country, he will not come back. Mehta is a British citizen and lives with his family in Hong Kong.
Mehta’s lawyer Amit Desai argued that his client has been in India for a long time and has always cooperated and the CBI has made false allegations. He said that Mehta is ready to give the letter, but then he will have to stay in India for one more year. He insisted that his client should be allowed to leave for some time.
What did the Supreme Court say?
The Supreme Court said that allowing Mehta to travel outside the country would mean rejecting the CBI’s appeal without a hearing. The court cannot compel Mehta to give the authority letter to the CBI.
After hearing the arguments, the apex court listed the matter for further hearing on February 9. The Supreme Court was hearing the CBI’s plea challenging the Bombay High Court order of August last year, which allowed Mehta to travel to Hong Kong and stay there for three months.
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