A special court under the anti-money laundering law issued non-bailable warrants on Saturday against businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, in connection with the alleged Rs 12,700-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank, ANI reported. Both Modi and Choksi are currently outside India.

On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate had approached the special court, set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, to get non-bailable warrants issued against the two businessmen. The agency had told the court that Modi had not appeared for questioning despite being issued summons three times – on February 15, 17 and 23.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had also written to Modi asking him to come to India and cooperate with the investigation, but he replied that he cannot as he has a business to take care of outside India.

The Punjab National Bank had informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on February 14 that it had detected “fraudulent and unauthorised transactions” at its Brady House branch in Mumbai. The amount of fraudulent transactions could be Rs 12,703 crore, about Rs 1,323 crore more than the initial estimate of Rs 11,380 crore.

A few officials at the public sector bank had reportedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking – essentially letters of credit telling others banks that it would meet a customer’s liabilities – to Nirav Modi’s companies. Some bank officials have been arrested and are undergoing investigation.