CBI to HC: Won't need custody of Nirav Modi's kin

MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week told the Bombay High Court that it need not arrest Maiank Mehta, brother-in-law of fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi, in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, although the court allowed the central agency to file a charge sheet against him.

- Prateem Rohanekar

Acting on a petition filed by Mehta, the court had earlier restrained the CBI from filing a charge sheet against him. Mehta had approached the high court, claiming that the CBI could not prosecute him in the predicate offence when the special PMLA court had in a connected money laundering case allowed him to turn approver and granted him conditional pardon.

A division-bench of Justice Ajey Gadkari and Justice Rajesh Patil passed the order on a plea filed by the CBI, which had sought permission to file a charge sheet against Mehta, a British national and Hong Kong resident.