Fast tracking the probe into India’s biggest banking fraud, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax department, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs on Friday took a series of steps to tighten the noose around billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi following the Punjab National Bank’s disclosure of Rs 11,500-crore fraud by the jewellers.

A day after the ED seized Nirav’s movable property worth Rs 5,100 crore, the CBI registered the second FIR in the PNB scam. The CBI also conducted raids on 26 locations in six States on various properties of Gitanjali group of companies owned by Mehul Choksi, for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 4,887 crore to the PNB. The agency has named three companies in the FIR filed on Friday. They are Gitanjali Gems, Gili India and Nakshatra Brands Limited.

The CBI has got Interpol notices issued to its member countries to determine the current locations of Nirav and his family members, who flew out of the country in the first week of January. The CBI has formed a special team under a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) to probe the case.

In a related development, the ED probe has revealed that an additional Rs 3,000 crore was lent by 17 banks to the many companies belonging to Nirav. The ED registered another case against Nirav and his uncle’s company Gitanjali Gem and continued with its raids on their offices and business locations.

As per ED sources, diamond and gold worth Rs 549 crore seized on Friday during the countrywide raids. With this, total amount of seizure has touched Rs 5,649 crore. The ED has also directed Nirav’s company in New York, London, Beijing and Macau not to transact any business till the probe is on.

The I-T department also swung into an action and attached 29 properties and 105 bank accounts of Nirav, his family and companies. It is expected to attach more properties in the coming days. The department has issued notices under the black money. In addition, prosecution in this case has been filed under the I-T Act and hearing has been fixed for February 27.

In a late night development, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that it has not given any directions to PNB regarding honouring Letter of Undertaking (LoUs) to other banks in Nirav fraud case. RBI said it has already undertaken an assessment of control systems at scam-hit the PNB and will take “appropriate supervisory action”. In a statement, the central bank said the fraud in the PNB is a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or more employees of the bank and failure of internal controls.

On the advice of the ED, the passport issuing authority has suspended the validity of passports of Nirav and Choksi with immediate effect for a period of four weeks under Section 10(A) of the Passports Act 1967.

In parallel with the actions of the law enforcement agencies and I-T authorities, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has identified about 150 shell companies for investigation. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs has said that

Expanding the ambit of the probe, the CBI registered an FIR against Gitanjali group of companies of Mehul Choksi based on a complaint of PNB dated February, 13, 2018. In this case, the alleged loss to PNB is estimated at R s4,886.72 crore (which is part of the total Rs11,400 crore fraud amount). Three companies of Choksi named in the FIR are - Gitanjali Gems, Gili India and Nakshatra Brand Ltd. The fresh FIR involves 143 Letters of Understanding (LoUs) and 224 foreign letters of credit, which are separate from the earlier 150 LoUs mentioned in the FIR filed on January 31,” said a senior CBI official, requesting anonymity.

The agency has started questioning of four suspected PNB officials in this case. They are Bechu B Tiwari, the PNB Chief Manager at Nariman Point in Mumbai, Sanjay Prasad, currently deputy general manager; Mohinder Sharma, currently Chief Manager Zonal audit office and Manoj Hanumant Kharat, then Single Window Operator at PNB.

The agency said they have named Kharat as an accused in the second complaint they had submitted to them on February 13. The CBI is surprised to find out that the bank suspended around 10 officials, but they did not share the names of them.

According to the CBI, searches are being conducted at 26 different premises related to Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali Group of companies, and other directors of the companies. It includes factories, plants, offices and residencies of the above. The agency conducted searches at Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Surat in Gujarat, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Hyderabad in Telangana and Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore.

According to the agency, LoUs worth Rs 2,144 crore were issued in favour of Gitanjali Gems, Rs 566 crore in favour of Gili and Rs 321 crore in favour of Nakshatra. Against these LoUs, Letters of Credit were issued to the three companies by overseas branches of Indian banks. Rs 575 crore of LCs were issued to Gitanjali gems, Rs 625 crore to Gili and Rs 598 crore to Nakshatra, the complaint alleged.

The accused in the new FIR include Choksi, Managing Director Gitanjali Gems, Gokulnath Shetty, retired DGM of PNB, Manoj Kharat, then single window officer of PNB, companies--Gitanjali Gems Ltd , Gili India Ltd, Nakshatra Brand Ltd, directors of the companies Krishnan Sangameshwaran, Nazura Yash Ajaney, Dinesh Gopaldas Bhatia, Aniyath Shivraman Nair and Dhanesh Vrajlal Sheth.

Also included are Jyoti Bharat Vora, Anil Umesh Haldipur, Chandrakant Kanu Karkare, Pankhuri Abhijeet Warange, Mihir Bhaskar Joshi and unidentified public servants of the PNB.

The CBI has alleged in the FIR that accused bank officials Shetty and Kharat in connivance with accused companies others defrauded the PNB to the tune of USD 754.92 million (app Rs 4886.70 crore) during 2017-18 by issuing 143 Letters of Understanding, CBI said.

CBI had earlier conducted raids in 21 different locations on February 3 and 4 which included residences of Nirav, his wife Ami Modi and bank officials.

The first FIR named Nirav Modi, his wife Ami Modi, brother Nishal Modi, uncle Mehul Choksi and the two bank officials. “Accused PNB officials (Gokulnath Shetty and Manoj Kharat) in conspiracy with private persons sent unauthorised LoUs and foreign letters of credit to overseas branches of Indian banks for release of funds to accused companies’ suppliers or to clear liabilities of accused companies,” officials added.

During probe by ED, it has now emerged that an additional Rs 3,000 crore was lent by 17 banks to the many companies belonging to the diamond jewellery business magnate. ED has summoned Nirav and his business partner Mehul Choksi in connection with its money laundering probe in the PNB fraud case. The notices were handed over to the directors of the firms of the two businessmen as they were not in the country, the officials said.

Earlier, suspending the passport, the MEA said that “Mr Nirav Deepak Modi and Mr. Mehul Chinubhai Choksi have been asked to respond within one week as to why their passports should not be impounded or revoked under Section 10 (3) (c) of the Passports Act 1967. If they fail to respond within the stipulated time it will be assumed that they have no response to offer and the MEA will go ahead with the revocation,” MEA said.