Mehul Choksi's letter adds insult to injury: Gitanjali staff

A letter from errant diamond merchant Mehul Choksi to his employees has drowned all hopes of the Gitanjali Group staffers. In the letter sent through his lawyer, Choksi asked his employees to look for other avenues of employment in the light of the ongoing controversy surrounding him and his nephew, Nirav Modi.

This has only added to the misery of the Gitanjali staff, who were left in the lurch after the scam came to light. Thousands of employees will be deprived of their due salaries. Choksi mentioned that he does not have any money to pay them and does not want anyone to suffer for being associated with him. He requested all his employees to resign.

"We had a hope that wherever he (Choksi) is, he would pay our salaries and would do something to help us. But, through this letter, he ditched us. We don't know what we are going to do now. We have arranged a meeting tomorrow to decide on approaching a labour court against him," Reshma Achuthan, a former HR of Gitanjali Gems, said.

"There are over 400 employees in Mumbai who are in the lurch. We all are jobless and helpless. We are not going to find employment instantly. There are people who are the sole breadwinners of their family; how are they going to deal with the situation? He (Choski) should have thought about this before turning his back from his duties and responsibilities towards us," she added.

"The employees have not received a salary for the past two months and the PF and gratuity are also stuck with the company," said another Gitanjali employee, Sunita Thakur.