PNB fraud: 141 bank accounts and FDs of Nirav Modi attached, Alibaug farmhouse sealed
PremiumThe income tax department has attached a total of 141 bank accounts and fixed deposits (FDs) valued at Rs145 crore of Nirav Modi group
PremiumThe income tax department has attached a total of 141 bank accounts and fixed deposits (FDs) valued at Rs145 crore of Nirav Modi group
New Delhi: The income tax department on Wednesday attached 141 bank accounts and fixed deposits (FDs) valued at Rs145 crore of Nirav Modi group, an official said on Wednesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on the same day, sealed Modi’s farmhouse in Alibaug near Mumbai, officials said. The 1.5-acre farmhouse in Alibaug was purchased by Modi in 2004 for Rs32 crore for hosting special parties for his clientele to show case his precious jewellery collection, they said. The area has imposing farmhouses of the who’s who of cinema and the business world.
Modi’s 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 said.
The agency had detected the property by analysing the documents recovered by it and had started searches yesterday. The CBI today sealed it till further notice.
Meanwhile, CBI said it has no information about reports of Modi having two passports “illegally".
The agency presented six persons arrested yesterday before special a CBI court in Mumbai which remanded them in custody till 3 March.
The federal Investigative agency had arrested Vipul Ambani, president (finance) of Fire Star Diamond, executive assistant Kavita Mankikar and senior executive Arjun Patil (all of Modi’s companies) and Kapil Khandelwal, CFO Nakshatra group and Gitanjali group, and Niten Shahi, manager of Gitanjali group.
The CBI took PNB general manager (credit) Rajesh Jindal, who is at present posted at the bank’s head office in New Delhi, into custody Tuesday night. Jindal was then head of the Brady House, Mumbai, branch of the bank during 2009-11.
It is alleged that the issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) to Nirav Modi group firms without sanctioned limits started during his tenure. It is alleged that Rs11,400 crore of LoUs were fraudulently issued to the firms of Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
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