(With PTI inputs)

NEW DELHI: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi has been arrested in London in connection with multi-billion fraud that took place at a Mumbai branch of Punjab National Bank."Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.He was produced before London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, which rejected his plea for bail. The fugitive businessman will stay in custody till March 29, the next date of hearing in the case.The move comes after a London court had issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi in response to Enforcement Directorate's (ED) request for his extradition.Earlier, CBI sources had said that expeditious efforts are being made to get absconding Nirav Modi extradited from the United Kingdom.The United Kingdom had responded to a Red Corner Notice issued by the agency against Nirav Modi last year, they added. The RCN was issued in June 2018 on a request from the agency to the Interpol.Nirav Modi has fled after allegedly siphoning off about Rs 13,500 crore from PNB using Letters of Undertaking (LoU) in collusion with his uncle Mehul Choski.The 48-year-old Nirav Modi was recently spotted in a tony neighbourhood of London.Read Also: Nirav Modi tracked down to swanky London apt; UK home secy certifies India's extradition requestNirav Modi and his uncle Choksi left the country in January last year, much before the biggest scam in India's banking history was unearthed.The case will follow a similar pattern through the UK courts as that of liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, who remains on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017 on fraud and money laundering charges.It is alleged that Nirav Modi and Choksi through their companies availed of credit from overseas branches of Indian banks using fraudulent guarantees of the PNB given through LoUs and letters of credit which were not repaid, bringing the liability on the state-run bank, the officials said.An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks which have branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant.