PNB fraud: CBI seals luxury farmhouse of jeweller Nirav Modi in Mumbai's Alibaug

Pic courtesy: Reuters

Mumbai: The CBI on Wednesday sealed a luxury property of billionaire Nirav Modi in Alibaug area near Mumbai.

The 1.5-acre farmhouse in the uber-rich neighbourhood was purchased by the jeweller in 2004 for Rs 32 crore for hosting special parties for his clientele to showcase his precious jewellery collection, as per officials.

The expansive farmhouse, located about 100 km by road from Mumbai in Raigad district also has a 12,000 sq ft bungalow with five bedrooms, a large swimming pool, a movie theatre and a library, they added, PTI reported.

The area has imposing farmhouses of the creme de la creme of cinema and the business world. The CBI has sealed it till further notice.

Meanwhile, the CBI on Wednesday presented six persons arrested on Tuesday before special a CBI court in Mumbai which remanded them in custody till March 3, 2018.

The CBI had arrested Vipul Ambani, president (finance) of Fire Star Diamond, executive assistant Kavita Mankikar and senior executive Arjun Patil (all of Nirav Modi's companies).

Kapil Khandelwal, CFO of Nakshatra group and Gitanjali group, and Niten Shahi, manager of Gitanjali group were also arrested by the agency.

From Punjab National Bank, the CBI took into custody Rajesh Jindal, General Manager credit, at present posted at the bank's head office in Mumbai. Jindal, who was the head of the Brady House, Mumbai, branch of the bank during 2009-11, was taken into custody on Tuesday night.

It is alleged that the issuance of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) to Nirav Modi group firms without sanctioned limits started during his tenure.

Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

On February 14, 2018, PNB had disclosed that it had detected fraudulent transactions with a financial implication of about Rs 11,400 crore and the matter had been referred to law enforcement agencies for the recovery.

On the other hand, the Enforcement Directorate continued its raids on the seventh day on Wednesday as it visited 17 locations across the country, including four shell companies in Mumbai, in connection with its money laundering probe in the alleged PNB fraud, PTI reported.

The agency sleuths stepped up their action against the suspected shell or bogus firms linked to the operations of Nirav Modi and Gitanjali Gems promoter Choksi and others.

The Income Tax Department, which is also probing these instances, had on Tuesday launched action against the shell firms that are reported to have been used by the accused to allegedly launder huge money and evade taxes.

(With PTI inputs)