How $2 bn PNB scam punched holes in PM Modi's anti-corruption image

While investigations continue into India's biggest-ever bank fraud, the by-election results show the BJP's reputation is on the line

Shortly after a $2 billion bank fraud was uncovered last month at India’s state-owned Punjab National Bank, a picture emerged of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the alleged fraudster.

The photo showed Modi posing at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 23 with a large business delegation that included billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi, who is at the center of the unfolding scandal. That was enough for opponents and even one of Modi’s coalition partners to question the prime minister’s commitment to rooting out corruption -- a key part of his pitch to voters.

Government officials said the jeweler was just