Fugitive Nirav Modi has run out of tricks

New Delhi: While fleeing India, the routes Nirav Modi had charted for himself must have seemed to him foolproof and easy. Months into hiding, in between jet-setting to many countries, he has now hit a blind alley.  

With his back against the wall in UK, the fugitive Indian diamantaire, who allegedly made off with Rs 13,578 crore from Punjab National Bank, Modi will remain in UK as long as India’s extradition plea hangs over head—next will be frog-marching to an Indian court.  

Aping a conman straight from a crass Bollywood movie, Modi tried every trick up his sleeve in the past 15 months to dodge Indian detectives and the long arms of the law.

First off, he applied for a citizenship of an obscure Pacific Island nation, Vanuatu; then, he sought PR in Singapore, and meanwhile he sat across from law firms in the UK trying to find a shelter elsewhere. 

What is more, some reports say he even toyed with the idea of trying plastic surgery to assume a different appearance.

Now that he is in the police custody in London, only so much he can do—perhaps nothing at all as he has run out of tricks.

Since his fleeing the country, Indian sleuths may have been shadowing his every move, if inside stories spilling over to media are true.

Everything from his trip to Europe, UAE to fiscal transactions to huddle with biggies were monitored, according to a report in The Times of India. Thus enmeshed, thanks to evidences that could stand scrutiny, Modi has no place to hide.