Following routine procedure, the Indian passport of scam-accused jeweller Nirav Modi was revoked and information regarding the same sent to all Indian diplomatic missions, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday.
The official spokesperson acknowledged the reports of international travel by the diamond merchant, but refused to confirm them. “I had announced his passport was revoked because he did not reply to the letter that we had sent to him. The normal process is that after the revocation, all passport-issuing authorities like all our consulates and missions are informed. This is the part of the process that we do always,” said Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
MEA had suspended Nirav Modi’s passport on 16 February for a period of four weeks under 10(A) of the Passports Act 1967. The diamond trader and his uncle Mehul Chinubhai Choksi were asked to respond within a week on why their passports should not be impounded.
Subsequently the MEA had informed that India had reached out to Hong Kong authorities to repatriate Nirav Modi from that country. However, media reports suggested last week that Nirav Modi had flown to New York. The MEA refused to confirm the presence of the jeweller in the US.
