A group of farmers in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra alleging that Jeweller Nirav Modi had acquired their land for a compensation less than normal prevalent rate.

The farmers staged a protest in Khandala village of the Ahmednagar district which they termed as a ‘symbol to show their ownership over the land.

“Nirav Modi had acquired land of the farmers by conning them. We did this (protest) as a symbol to show our ownership of the land. Nirav Modi was given crores by the bank but farmers are not given more than Rs 10,000. We have started a 'Bhoomi Aandolan' against this,” said a farmer participating in the protest as quoted by ANI.

The farmers were seen marching carrying a tricolour on tractors and bullock carts in an open field while staging the protest.

Nirav Modi has been absconding from the country since early in January this year. He is accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the multi-crore Punjab National Bank fraud. It is alleged that he has taken several Letters of Undertaking (LoU) from Brady house PNB branch in Mumbai under his four firms and raised funds overseas.

Since then, several arrests have been made in connection with the case but efforts to bring back Nirav Modi have not come to fruition yet