Mumbai, February 11 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed applications before a court here seeking to declare absconding diamond businessman Nirav Modi's brothers, Neeshal and Nehal Modi, as "Economic Offenders" in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.
The applications were recently moved before the special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases under the Economic Offenders Act. Judge A V Gujarathi will hear them on February 18.
Once a person is declared an Economic Offender, their assets can be attached or seized.
The ED claims that Nehal Modi helped Nirav move and hide large sums of money through fake companies and overseas transactions.
Neeshal Modi was involved in appointing dummy partners and was a signatory or beneficiary in some Dubai-based dummy companies between 2011 and 2013, according to an ED charge-sheet.
Nehal Modi was arrested in the US in 2025, and is fighting the extradition proceedings initiated against him by the ED and CBI.
The ED also sought to declare senior executives of Nirav Modi's firm, Aditya Nanavati and Sandeep Mistry, as fugitives.
Absconding diamond businessman Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are accused of siphoning off over Rs 23,780 crore from the PNB using fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) by bribing its officials.
The special court had in 2019 declared Nirav Modi an Economic Offender, while ED's similar plea against Choksi is still pending.
Currently, Choksi is facing extradition proceedings, while Nirav Modi is lodged in a London jail.
