7 engineering students had filed FIR against Mehul Choksi last year

A group of seven engineering graduates from Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology in Jaipur were allegedly cheated by Choksi.

New Delhi: Mehul Choksi MD and Chairman of Gitanjali Gems Jewellery and the maternal uncle of diamond and jewellery trader Nirav Modi, who has reportedly fled from India with his wife after being linked to a huge financial scam involving the Punjab National Bank, is not new to FIRs.

As per media reports, a group of seven engineering graduates from Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology (RIET) in Jaipur had filed an FIR against Choksi in 2017.

These students had reportedly collected Rs 3 crore to open Gitanjali Jewelery Retail's franchise called RM Green Solutions at Rajouri Garden in Delhi in October 2013. However, they later realised that the diamond that they got against security deposit of Rs 1.5 crore was of 'third-grade' quality. Most of the diamonds and gems delivered to them was damaged and old.

Choksi moved the Delhi high court in August last year seeking quashing of the FIR.

Mehul Choksi, was also under the scanner of the Mumbai Income Tax Department (Investigation) in 2012 for alleged duty violations while importing huge quantities of gold and diamond items. According to replies received under RTI in 2012, from the Mumbai Customs Department by activist Manoranjan S Roy, huge quantities of gold were imported by major Indian companies and many had not paid duty that year.

Among the companies named by Mumbai Customs Department were Choksi's group businesses — Gitanjali Gems Ltd, which imported 750 kg of gold items, Gitanjali Jewellery Ltd imported 171 kg and Gili India Ltd imported 182 kg and 134 pieces (implying gold articles) — all allegedly without paying a single rupee as duty.

With IANS Inputs