NEW DELHI (AP) — India's federal investigating agency says it has arrested six people in an alleged $1.8 billion bank fraud case.

Abhished Dayal, a Central Bureau of Investigation spokesman, said Tuesday that five bank workers and an employee of billionaire jeweler and suspect Nirav Modi were arrested for allegedly conspiring to cheat the Punjab National Bank over the past six years.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported that Modi sent a letter to the state-run bank claiming that he owed less than half the amount claimed by the bank in connection with the alleged fraud.

Modi runs an international jewelry empire that reaches from India to New York. He fled India last month.