Mumbai: Purvi Modi, sister of fugitive diamondaire Nirav Modi has been granted permission to become a prosecution witness in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. ALSO READ | Narendra Modi 'Achieved' What Manmohan Singh Was 'Offered': Pranab Mukherjee In His Memoir

A special court in Mumbai allowed Purvi Modi to become an "approver" in the PNB scam case. Special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) V C Barde on Monday accepted her plea for the same followed by the order becoming available on Tuesday.

The "position of the accused (Purvi Modi) in this case after tender of pardon is that she shall be marked as approver", the court stated.

Nirav's sister Purvi Modi, a Belgian national, is also among the accused in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate.

"The accused staying abroad presently shall be directed to present herself before the court, for which purpose the prosecution shall take necessary steps," the court order read.

Last month, she and her husband, Maiank Mehta, had stated they wished to distance themselves from Nirav Modi. The ED also gave a no-objection to them becoming prosecution witnesses in an individual capacity but raised objection to allowing any companies or entities named as accused to be granted a similar pardon.

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Purvi Modi had contended that she co-operated with the ED by providing all required information and documents. In her application, she stated that her's was a limited role as attributed by the investigating agency and she is not the prime accused.

Being Nirav Modi's sister, she is in a unique position to provide "substantial and important evidence, information, proof, and documents and access to bank accounts, assets, companies and entities that are relevant to Nirav Modi and his actions/dealings", the plea added.

Diamondaire Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender in 2019 and the process to extradite him from the UK has been underway. According to ED,  Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi used corrupt means in association with bank officials to cheated PNB to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore by obtaining fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs).

(With agency inputs)

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