NEW DELHI, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- India has revoked the passports of disgraced billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi for their involvement in the country's biggest-ever bank fraud of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars.
"The passports of Modi and Choksi have been revoked by Indian External Affairs Ministry. Earlier their passports were only suspended for four weeks," sources said Saturday.
Indian authorities have already launched a massive crackdown on companies linked to Modi, and seized 10,000 luxury watches and nine luxury cars in the past three days, apart from freezing his personal shares and mutual funds.
Modi is said to have defrauded Punjab National Bank, India's second largest state-run bank, of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, though he has said that he owed the bank only 775 million U.S. dollars, in a letter sent to the bank's management.
Investigators have so far arrested 12 people, including some high-ranking bank officials, for their alleged involvement in the fraud though they have not yet charged Modi for the crime.
The celebrity jeweller -- the mastermind of the massive fraud -- is said to have fled the country and was reportedly last seen in New York after his appearance at World Economic Forum in Davos as part of an Indian delegation.
