Jewellery designer Nirav Modi was arrested in London on Wednesday by Scotland Yard after Westminster Court issued a warrant. The fugitive businessman will be produced in the court shortly, sources said.

"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 will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," the statement added.

CBI sources had earlier said that a central probe agency was monitoring the developments taking place in London and all legal assistance was being extended to take the extradition request forward in that country.

The legal procedure of extradition of an accused takes its own time and Indian investigators, both from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), are tracking the case, the sources said.

ED officials had said that a London court has issued an arrest warrant against the jewellery designer, the main accused in the Rs 14,600 crore PNB scam case, in response to the probe agency's request for his extradition in a money laundering case.

The financial investigation agency was recently informed about the issuance of the warrant by the Westminster Magistrate Court and Modi is expected to be put under formal arrest by the local police soon.

The CBI and the ED are investigating Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others for alleged money laundering and corruption to perpetrate the alleged scam in the Brady House branch of the PNB in Mumbai that was unearthed last year.

Modi recently was seen on the streets of London sporting a handlebar moustache and an Ostrich skin jacket worth almost Rs 10 lakh by British daily The Telegraph recently. Further investigations by the newspaper revealed that the fugitive businessman was living in the luxury central London apartment and has also started a new diamond business in Soho.

The fugitive businessman, 48, is currently living in a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block in London, where rent is estimated to cost 17,000 pounds a month, The Telegraph newspaper had reported.

He has been chargesheeted by both CBI and the ED. The ED has also attached his assets worth Rs 1,873.08 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and has also seized assets linked to him and his family worth Rs 489.75 crore.