A new four-part podcast series examines the dramatic rise and fall of fugitive diamond magnate Nirav Modi, chronicling the expansion of his once-thriving Firestar Diamond business and the scandal that rocked India’s banking system. The series traces Modi’s trajectory from celebrated luxury jeweller to the centre of an alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud, exploring the people, places and financial mechanisms that underpinned his empire.
Produced by The Telegraph journalists Mick Brown and Robert Mendick, the podcast, titled The Diamond King, revisits Modi’s emergence as a global luxury brand and the sequence of events that led to his public collapse. Through on-the-ground reporting, interviews and documentary narration, Brown and Mendick reconstruct how Modi built an international reputation and how, over time, growing questions about the origins of his wealth gave rise to one of the most high-profile banking fraud investigations in India’s recent history.
The reporters describe locating Modi in London in March 2019, a discovery made more than a year after he left India amid allegations connected to the Punjab National Bank scandal. Now 55 and held in a UK prison while contesting extradition to India, Modi faces serious charges tied to the alleged $1.8 billion PNB fraud, including counts of money laundering and criminal conspiracy. The podcast outlines his legal situation and notes that, since his arrest in 2019, he has remained in custody while pursuing available legal avenues against extradition.
Listeners are taken through the growth of Modi’s Firestar Diamond brand and the strategic opening of flagship stores in premier global markets. The series highlights boutiques established in major luxury centres such as New York, London, Macau and Hong Kong, and it pays special attention to his 2016 launch of a prominent store on London’s Old Bond Street—a moment that symbolised the peak of his international ambitions and solidified his standing among high-end jewellery clientele.
Beyond the glamour and retail success, the podcast delves into the financial underpinnings of Modi’s rapid expansion. Through interviews, documentary reporting and accounts from insiders, the series explores how admiration for his jewellery craftsmanship and business acumen gradually shifted into suspicion. Producers trace the trail of transactions, corporate structures and lending relationships that, according to investigators, funded the growth of his empire and ultimately attracted scrutiny from regulators and law enforcement.
The narrative also examines the wider impact of the alleged fraud on India’s banking sector and public trust. By situating Modi’s story within the context of institutional oversight, lending practices and the vulnerabilities exposed by the scandal, the podcast offers listeners a broader understanding of why the controversy resonated deeply in financial and political circles. Interviews with experts and journalists illuminate how the case prompted questions about accountability, risk management and corporate governance in banking.
The opening episode, “All That Glitters,” introduces Modi’s transformation from an ambitious jeweller into an internationally recognised luxury brand owner. It sets the scene by recounting the early years of his ascent and foreshadows the revelations that would bring his business empire to a halt. Across four episodes, the series balances personal portraiture with investigative detail, aiming to explain both the allure of Modi’s public image and the mechanisms that investigators say enabled the alleged wrongdoing.
Ultimately, The Diamond King poses the central question that continues to define Nirav Modi’s legacy: was he a visionary who reshaped global luxury jewellery, or the architect of one of the world’s most notorious financial frauds? The podcast leaves listeners with a nuanced account that neither simplifies the controversy nor presumes its resolution, instead inviting audiences to weigh the evidence and implications uncovered by journalists who followed the story closely.