Top Nirav Modi officials quizzed

Four senior officials of Nirav Modi companies, including vice president (Finance) Vipul Ambani, were on Monday questioned by the CBI in connection with the PNB scam, even as the ED conducted fresh searches.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) continued its searches for the fifth consecutive day at eight other locations in cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Jammu, Lucknow, Pune and Surat.

They also searched Nirav's Samudra Mahal apartments in Mumbai's Worli and has so far seized assets worth Rs 5,716 crore, which included Monday's seizure of Rs 22 crore, in connection with defrauding the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

CBI sources said Ambani, chief financial officer Ravi Gupta, international finance president Saurabh Sharma and deputy general manager (finance) Subhash Parab were quizzed extensively by the investigators to unravel the financial transactions carried out by the billionaire diamond merchant.

Sources said Ambani, who is understood to be a relative of the late Dhirubhai Ambani, has been in the post for a couple of years.

Five other officials, including general manager-level employees, are also being questioned, taking the total number of officials being questioned to 11.

The CBI also intensified its searches on Sunday evening at the Brady House branch of the PNB, the nerve centre of the Rs 11,344.40 crore bank fraud, and even sealed it for a brief period as a security measure to prevent possible tampering.

"The PNB branch was secured with a seal briefly so as to prevent any inadvertent or unauthorised opening by the concerned PNB staff," a CBI spokesperson said.

"Temporary sealing of the premises was a time-bound security measure to prevent possible tampering. It will not affect regular business of the branch as today (Monday) is a local holiday in Maharashtra as it is Shivaji Jayanti," the spokesperson said.

The ED had summoned Nirav and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 in Mumbai.

The ED officials are also talking to senior PNB officials to ascertain how Letters of Understanding (LoUs) are issued and other bank operations done.

ED Director Karnal Singh also flew down to Mumbai to review the investigations.

The ED has collected information from former Allahabad Bank director Dinesh Dubey, who has claimed that loan was given to Gitanjali Gems in 2013 despite his dissent note.