INDIA'S $2 BILLION BANK FRAUD

INDIA has asked authorities in Hong Kong to arrest jeweller Nirav Modi, one of the main suspects in a $2 billion fraud at-

State-run Punjab National Bank, the government said, suggesting it believes the fugitive is in the Chinese territory.

The whereabouts of Modi and his uncle  Mehul Choksi, the other person accused in India's biggest banking fraud at the country's second largest state lender, have been unknown since the-

Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] launched an investigation in February.

The passports of Modi and Choksi, who both left India before the scandal emerged, have been revoked. Junior Foreign Minister V.K. Singh said India had submitted the request  for Modi's arrest to Hong Kong on March 23.

Modi, who owned a chain of boutiques from New York to Hong Kong, and Choksi accused of defrauding banks by raising loans from overseas branches of Indian lenders using nearly $2 billion of-

Fraudulent guarantees issued by rogue Punjab National bank staff at a Mumbai branch.

Modi and Choksi  have denied wrongdoing [Agencies]