I-T takes number of Nirav Modi a/cs attached so far to 141

NEW DELHI: With agencies cracking down on perpetrators of bank frauds, the Enforcement Directorate continued its search in the Nirav Modi bank scam case on Wednesday at 17 locations across the country and seized more diamond and gold jewellery worth Rs 10 crore, even as in another case the agency provisionally attached assets worth Rs 100 crore of REI Agro.
In a separate action, the income tax department on Wednesday attached more bank accounts of Nirav Modi and associated firms taking the total bank accounts attached so far to 141 having a cumulative balance of Rs 145 crore. The I-T department has also attached four immovable properties of Rotomac group in Kanpur and Ahmedabad.

The ED also scrutinised papers of some of the shell companies associated with Modi and those of Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Gems.

Choksi is a co-accused in the Punjab National Bank’s Rs 11,400 crore swindle along with Modi and was partner in three firms linked to the case — Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds. The other accused in the case are Modi’s wife Ami and brother Nishal.

On Wednesday, ED teams raided four locations at Opera House, Peddar Road, Goregaon (East) and Powai in Mumbai besides searches in other cities. So far ED has seized diamonds and gold jewellery from Nirav Modi stores worth over Rs 5,700 crore.

The income tax department had conducted searches on 13 companies of the Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali group on Tuesday at 20 locations in five cities. The searches included some of the shell companies associated with Choksi.

Many of the shell companies searched had huge financial transactions with Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems Ltd and Gili India Ltd though they had insignificant businesses. The I-T department has attached 29 high-value properties of Modi and eight of Choksi and attached their bank accounts too.

In another case, the ED on Wednesday provisionally attached assets worth ?100 crore of REI Agro Ltd in connection with another bank fraud case worth about Rs 3,800. The second case relates to diversion of funds sanctioned by a consortium of banks by the accused to many of his shell companies. The case dates back to 2015 when the CBI had first registered an FIR against REI Agro.

The ED probe revealed that REI Agro Ltd and its directors, Sandip Jhunjhunwala and others, had diverted the funds sanctioned as working capital loan by 14 banks under consortium led by the UCO Bank. “The accused adopted different modus operandi, including trading in bogus bills and investing the money in shell companies,” a senior officer said.

Jhunjhunwala is accused of arranging false purchase and sales invoices of rice and paddy through brokers in Delhi for availing maximum working capital limits from the consortium of banks and later diverted the funds for capital expenditure.