CBI brings back Nirav Modi aide Sandeep Mistry from UAE in PNB fraud case

The Central Bureau of Investigation has brought back Sandeep Mistry, an associate of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, from the United Arab Emirates in connection with the Punjab National Bank fraud case.

Mistry, who was wanted by the agency's Bank Securities and Fraud Branch in Mumbai, was flown to the city late on Monday night and taken into custody by CBI officers. He was subsequently produced before a competent court, which sent him to judicial custody.

According to the agency, Mistry is accused of playing a central role in fictitious international trade transactions linked to the fraud. It has alleged that he served as a key link between various entities, managed their daily operations and passed on instructions through clandestine, self-deleting communication platforms in an effort to conceal evidence.

He is also accused of helping prepare forged import and export documents to project fictitious trade in diamonds, gold and pearl jewellery, and of taking part in the siphoning of funds from the bank accounts of dummy companies based in the UAE.

The CBI has further alleged that Mistry and other accused persons coerced dummy directors of foreign companies, threatening them with arrest, shifting their locations, seizing their electronic devices and forcing them to sign documents that falsely showed them as genuine owners of the firms. A chargesheet has already been filed before a competent court in the matter.

The agency said a Red Notice was published against Mistry through Interpol channels in July 2026 at its request. He was later geo-located and arrested by authorities in the UAE, after which deportation proceedings were set in motion.

The CBI said Mistry was traced, apprehended and brought back to India within about two months of the Red Notice being issued, which it described as a sign of swift coordination between the agency, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs and UAE authorities.