The probe against fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi may have been compromised. The email ID of a CBI Joint Director, which was apparently hacked, has been blocked owing to suspicious activity, a TV report said.
The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) of the Ministry of Information Technology has seized the desktop computer of Rajiv Singh, CBI Joint Director, as the probe progresses, CNN News 18 reports.
The investigators are also checking if any sensitive information has been leaked through this email ID. Initial inquiries led to the finding that bulk emails were sent out from this ID.
CNN News 18 said the investigators are checking why the top sleuth did not report the suspicious activity earlier.
Earlier on Monday, it was revealed that fugitive financial offender Nirav Modi, who defrauded Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore, travelled on an Indian passport as early as on June 12, raising suspicions that the investigation might have gone soft on him.
Modi, who is on Interpol's watch and supposedly on hot chase by the government of India, travelled from London to Brussels on June 12. The catch is that his passport was supposed to be revoked. The Indian public had been told his passport was revoked. That the Indian investigators were on hot pursuit. That the government of India was committed to recouping the public money and bringing the swindler to the book.
None of the promises seems to be kept. The PNB fraud was reported by the bank on February 14. In the days that followed, the details of the Letter of Credit scam perpetrated by Modi emerged.
Subsequently, on February 24, Modi's passport was revoked by the government. However. the Indian investigators approached the Interpol for issuing a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Nirav Modi only on June 11. That delay has allowed the fraudster on the run to make his travel plans and execute them freely.
Earlier, it had been revealed that Modi and his family had left the country only a few days before mega financial scam broke. Clearly he knew what was in the offing, and there were people to help him out with sensitive information. Well, to this day it has remained a mystery how a financial fraud of that scale could be carried out by just a handful of junior level executives at the bank. The fact that the hanky-panky was underway for several years just made the investigation's theories look like piffle.
After it emerged that Modi travelled on his 'revoked' Indian passport on June 12, the Indian officials have feigned useful ignorance. "We will know how he is travelling only when we are informed by (investigating) agencies," a foreign ministry spokesperson said when asked about this, the Times of India reported.
So the foreign ministry passes the blame on to the investigators. The investigators, in turn, cite the fact that a charge sheet against Modi was filed only recently. And that they could have approached the Interpol for the red corner notice only after fling the charge sheet.
While it's not writ in stone that the Interpol would accept a red corner notice only after a charge sheet is filed, let's grant the argument the benefit of the doubt. But then it only points to wilful foot dragging on the part of the investigators. Why did they take nearly four months to file charges even as Modi was going about his busiess as usual.
He was also allowed to use this generous grace period provided by the India government to cover the tracks of his fraud, move national capitals for asylum and other assistance and build on his business using companies owned by his family members.
There is a surfeit of the government rhetoric on bringing fraudsters to book but there seems to be little credible action.
