Watch: Nirav Modi Tracked Down In London

London: India’s most wanted fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi has been tracked down in London a year after he escaped from India.

A reporter of the London-based The Telegraph spotted him walking out of an expensive apartment in London’s west end, considered an upmarket locality.

The reporter confronted him on the streets of the city as he was about to board a cab, asking him as many as six questions, but Modi sought to remain silent. To every question, the answer was “no comment”.

Modi, who once shared space with the uber-rich and hobnobbed with Hollywood celebrities — radiating a sparkling look, was barely recognisable when the reporter tracked him down. He was sporting a whitish beard and a handlebar moustache but was draped in an expensive jacket to bear out London’s winter.

He is one of the prime accused in the Punjab National Bank scam amounting to over Rs 12000 crore. A red corner notice is served against him. According to The Telegraph, he occupies a three-bedroom flat in London. The paper also reported that the rent for such a property would be approximately $17,000 (Rs 15 lakh) a month.

The paper said Modi, whose business bank accounts and a flagship store in Old Bond Street (London) were closed by Indian authorities, continues to own a diamond business, which he runs from an office in Soho, near his new apartment.

Reportedly, Modi was also given a National Insurance number recently by the UK Department for Work and Pensions and was also allowed to operate online bank accounts in the UK despite India requesting his extradition, the paper added quoting top government sources.

On Friday, the authorities back in Maharashtra’s Alibag had demolished Modi’s Rs 100 crore bungalow using explosives.

As the news of Modi’s spotting in London broke in India early Saturday morning, the opposition taunted the government’s incapability of tracking him down, a job successfully done by a journalist.