New Delhi:Officials said that the Enforcement Directorate summoned at least four members of fugitive NiravModi's family, including his father and brother, and his US-based business partner in connection with a money laundering case linked to the over $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

The family members are required to be questioned as a number of financial transactions and NiravModi's businesses are linked to them, they said. The officials said summonses had been issued to NiravModi's father Deepak Modi, brother NishalModi, sisterPurvi Mehta, her husband Mayank Mehta, and MihirBhansali, who is the director of the jeweller's US-based firm Firestar Diamond Inc. They said the summonses, issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), were sent through e-mail as all the five people are settled abroad.

The officials said Deepak Modi was suspected to be in Antwerp in Belgium, Nishal and Bhansali could be in the US and the Mehtas were reportedly in Hong Kong. "However, their current locations are not exactly known and hence, summonses have been sent through e-mail," a senior official said. The ED asked them to depose before the investigating officer of the case in Mumbai over the next few days.

However, the sources said the agency was not very hopeful about their deposition and joining the probe in person. A case-to-case call would be taken on the next course of action based on the replies received. Earlier, the ED had summoned NiravModi and his uncle MehulChoksi in a similar fashion, but they did not depose before it, citing business engagements and the revocation of their passports by the government. NiravModi and Choksi are being investigated by the ED for allegedly cheating the Punjab National Bank, the country's second largest lender, to the tune of more than Rs USD 2 billion.