ED attaches 41 Choksi assets worth Rs 1217 crore

MUMBAI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday provisionally attached 41 immovable properties worth Rs 1,217 crore of diamond merchant Mehul Choksi in the money laundering case they are probing against him and his nephew Nirav Modi.
The attached properties include his two lavish flats in posh localities of Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, 27 acres of land on Mumbai-Goa highway, 101 acres of land in Tamil Nadu, plots of land in Nashik, Nagpur and Andhra Pradesh, two bungalows in Alibaug and offices in Surat.

Officials said of the attached properties in Mumbai, Prasad Chambers at Opera House was bought by the Choksi family in 1960s. They said the biggest commercial premises in the case which was attached was an 81,000-sqft mall in Axis Multi Complex, Block A, in Kolkata. Choksi had given the mall on rent to a famous fashion outlet.

Hyderabad Gems SEZ, a hardware park spread over 170 acres in Andhra Pradesh’s Ranga Reddy district worth Rs 500 crore, has also been attached. ED allowed the users of the premises to continue their business activities, but henceforth their rent will be deposited with the government. This is the first attachment of immovable properties belonging to Choksi and his companies.

Earlier, ED had attached 21 immovable properties worth Rs 524 crore of Nirav Modi, including the Rhythm House in South Mumbai. After completing the legal process, the ED can auction these properties to recover the proceeds of crime.

Before Choksi fled from India recently to avoid his arrest in the PNB fraud case, he was living with his family at a 5,000-sqft flat in Dadar. Another 3,200-sqft flat in Walkeshwar where he used to live earlier was under renovation.

Choksi had also purchased nine flats in a project at Santa Cruz East and four flats in another project at Borivali. All these flats have been attached. Apart from the immovable properties of Nirav Modi and Choksi that ED has attached, the agency has already seized jewellery belonging to them worth Rs 5,700 crore.