The CBI again wrote a mail to Nirav Modi to join the investigation by next week

Absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi has refused to join the CBI investigation into the Rs 12,717 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.

CBI officials said today that they'd contacted Modi through his official email address, asking him to be a part of the investigation. The jewelry merchant, however, replied in the negative with the explanation that he had business abroad that needed attending to.

The CBI again wrote a mail to Modi, directing him to join the investigation by next week mandatorily. The agency has asked him to contact the High Commission of the concerned



country and also offered to make arrangements for his return to India.

Modi, his uncle and Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the Punjab National Bank (PNB), that they allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank. The PNB later revised the figure and said the scam has swelled to over Rs 12,717 crore.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have registered two FIRs each to probe this case.