The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has secured the deportation of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi’s associate Sandeep Mistry from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to India in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, a CBI spokesperson said Tuesday.

Mistry, wanted by the CBI’s Bank Securities and Fraud Branch in Mumbai, was brought to Mumbai at 11.55 pm on Monday and taken into custody by CBI officers. The spokesperson said he was produced before the competent court, which sent him to judicial custody.

According to the CBI spokesperson, Mistry is accused of involvement in fictitious international trade transactions linked to the PNB fraud case. “He acted as a key link between various entities, oversaw their day-to-day operations and issued instructions through clandestine, self-deleting communication platforms to conceal evidence,” the spokesperson claimed.

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“Mistry also allegedly facilitated the preparation of forged import-export documents to show fictitious trade in diamonds, gold and pearl jewellery. He is further accused of participating in the siphoning off of funds from the bank accounts of dummy companies in the UAE,” the spokesperson said.

The CBI has also alleged that Mistry, along with other accused persons, coerced dummy directors of foreign companies by threatening them with arrest, relocating them, seizing their electronic devices and compelling them to sign documents falsely portraying them as genuine owners of the companies. The spokesperson said a chargesheet has already been filed before the competent court.

“At the CBI’s request, a Red Notice was published against Mistry through Interpol channels in July 2026. He was subsequently geo-located and arrested by UAE authorities, following which deportation proceedings were initiated,” the spokesperson said.

The agency said Mistry was traced, apprehended, and brought back to India within about two months of the Red Notice’s publication, reflecting swift international coordination between the CBI, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and UAE authorities.