PNB scam: CBI arrests Nirav Modi’s aide Sandeep Mistry after deportation from UAE

Sandeep Mistry’s arrest adds a new chapter to the long-running Nirav Modi investigation

September 29, 2026

Nirav Modi associate sent to judicial custody after UAE deportation

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested fugitive businessman Nirav Modi‘s associate Sandeep Mistry after “successfully securing” his deportation from the UAE in connection with a Rs.6,498.20 crore scam in the Punjab National Bank, officials said on Tuesday.

A key link between various entities, overseeing their day-to-day operations and issuing instructions through clandestine, self-deleting communication platforms to conceal evidence, Mistry was deported from the UAE based on an Interpol Red Notice issued at the request of the CBI in July.

“Subsequently, the subject was geo-located and arrested by the UAE authorities and a deportation process was initiated… The subject arrived in Mumbai at 23:55 hours on September 28, where he was taken into custody by the officers of CBI and Bank Securities and Fraud Branch (BSFB), Mumbai, and produced before the competent court and sent to jail custody,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

It is alleged that Mistry also facilitated the preparation of forged import-export documents to portray fictitious trade in diamonds, gold and pearl jewellery, it said.

“Further, he, along with other accused persons, coerced dummy directors of foreign companies by threatening them with arrest, relocating them to other places, seizing their electronic devices and compelling them to sign documents falsely portraying them as genuine owners of the companies.

“He also participated in siphoning off funds from the bank accounts of dummy companies in the UAE. The chargesheet in the case has been filed before the competent court,” the statement said.

The accused also destroyed their cellphones to erase evidence and were allegedly forced to shift to Cairo under the threat that they too could be arrested, the CBI said.

After arresting Mistry, the agency produced him before a special CBI court but did not press for his remand.

The court then remanded Mistry to judicial custody till October 6. The arrest was made in compliance with a non-bailable warrant issued by a special court in November 2025.

Mistry had served as the director of Fancy Creations Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company of Nirav Modi.

The CBI alleged that Mistry played an active role in the criminal conspiracy with Modi and other accused persons, in furtherance of which the Punjab National Bank (PNB) was cheated to the tune of nearly Rs.6,498.20 crore.

Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges since 2018. They are also facing an investigation by the CBI.

They have been accused of perpetrating a bank fraud of over USD 2 billion (more than Rs.13,000 crore) in connivance with bank officials and by the issuance of fraudulent letters of undertaking at the Brady House branch of PNB in Mumbai, with Rs.6,498 crore siphoned by Modi.

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