MEA: We have no any information from Hong Kong on Nirav Modi yet

New Delhi, Apr 12 The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) affirmed on Thursday that the Hong Kong authorities, who, under a treaty with the Indian Government, are obliged to surrender a criminal needed by India, have not sent word in regards to Nirav Modi's whereabouts yet.

"So far we have not gotten any information about Nirav Modi or about his capture from the Hong Kong authorities," said the representative for the MEA, Raveesh Kumar.

"We know about the written answer submitted to Parliament which shared that Nirav Modi is in Hong Kong. We have asked for the Hong Kong authorities to surrender Nirav Modi. There is an agreement between India and Hong Kong about surrender of fugitive offenders. We are still awaiting a response," he added.

The MEA had, on April 5, looked for a temporary capture of the slipping off gem dealer by the Hong Kong government regarding the near 2 billion dollar scam case.

Punjab National Bank had detected the scam in February, wherein Modi and Choksi had obtained isolate letters of undertaking (LoUs) to benefit credit from different sources and did not reimburse the advance.

The scam, which reportedly started in 2011, was detected in the third week of January this year after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned offices.