The duo planned their exit in November 2017 when two senior employees, who were directly authorised to issue LoUs, left the country, and the new staffers raised alarm over the manner in which the earlier LoUs were issued.

The fear of being caught had apparently caught hold of diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his maternal uncle and partner, Mehul Choksi, in November 2017.

As of September 2017, there were 11,469 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) registered with the Reserve Bank of India.

Taking its probe in the Nirav Modi scam out of the country, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon send judicial requests to over a dozen countries for obtaining information about the overseas businesses and assets of diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

The ED's decision to seek information on the loans offered to the duo seems to be motivated from the allegation that some banks offered huge loans to the duo's companies at just 12 per cent collateral, which put them at the risk of not being able to recover in case of a 'PNB-like' fraud.

The external affairs ministry had suspended the validity of their passports with immediate effect for a period of four weeks on February 16 and given one week's time to them to respond as to why their passports should not be impounded or revoked.

Using seizure of his bank accounts as a justification, Choksi said that he will not be able to reimburse the salaries of his employees, or pay the maintenance and electricity bills.

After facing criticism from various quarters for letting Nirav Modi slip out of the country, the government on Friday moved the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to confiscate all the properties owned by beleaguered diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked Sebi to freeze Mehil Choksi's shares in Gitanjali Gems. But what comes as a dampener for the investigative agencies is the fact that almost 78.56 per cent of the promoters' shares in Gitanjali Gems were pledged in December.

Contrary to what Nirav Modi claims in the letter, the total fraud value might be higher than the Rs 11,400 stated by the PNB.

The CBI officials on Monday conducted searches at Punjab National Bank's (PNB) Brady House branch in Mumbai even as whereabouts of Firestar Diamond owner Nirav Modi, who's accused of defrauding the bank of over Rs 11,400 crore, remain unknown.

The agency had earlier said it had arrived at the value of the assets seized based on the stock value at showrooms and stores, which was also the price at which the company purchased the goods.