Authorities at the Arthur Road jail have kept 'barrack no. 12' ready if fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi is extradited from the UK in connection with the USD 2 billion PNB fraud and money laundering case, a Home department official said on Tuesday. The prisons department last week shared information with the state Home department about the status of the Arthur Road prison and facilities that can be provided there, in case Modi is to be lodged in the barrack, he said.

The Centre recently asked the state government about the same, he said. Modi was arrested by Scotland Yard officers in London on March 19 and faces extradition to India as the "principal beneficiary" of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud the
Punjab National Bank (PNB) and then laundering the money. UK's Westminster Magistrate's Court last month denied bail to Modi, who has been behind bars at one of England's most overcrowded prisons, Her Majesty's Prison Wandsworth. The state government recently submitted a letter of assurance to the Centre about the facilities which it can provide in the prison, he said. It had last year furnished a similar letter of assurance to the Centre in connection with the extradition of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is in the UK and is wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore.