ED seizes Rs 100 cr deposits, luxury cars of Nirav Modi, Choksi

The ED today said it has frozen shares, deposits and luxury cars worth over Rs 100 crore of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with a money laundering probe against them in the Rs 11,400-crore alleged PNB fraud.

Enforcement Directorate officials said they have frozen mutual funds and shares worth Rs 86.72 crore belonging to Choksi and his group and Rs 7.80 crore owned by the Modi group.

While the total value of these shares and mutual funds is Rs 94.52 crore, the costly four-wheelers are worth a few crores and hence the total seizure value stands to be over Rs 100 crore, the officials said.

The total seizure in the case is now Rs. 5,826 crore, which the agency has said is being independently valued.

ED seizes 9 cars including Rolls Royce Ghost, Porsche Panamera, 2 Mercedes Benz, 3 Honda, 1Toyota Fortuner & an Innova of Nirav Modi & his companies. Shares & Mutual Funds worth Rs 7.8 Cr of Nirav Modi & Rs 86.72 crore of Mehul Choksi group also frozen. pic.twitter.com/lolYF8CgB9

— ED (@dir_ed) February 22, 2018

Choksi is Modi's uncle and promoter of the Gitanjali Gems group and other jewellery brands.

The central probe agency also seized nine high-end cars belonging to Modi during the raids that were launched against him and Choksi on February 15 under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The searches continued for the eighth day today.

The seized car brands include a Rolls Royce 'Ghost', a Mercedes Benz, a Porsche Panamera, three Honda models, a Toyota Fortuner and an Innova.

Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the fraud came to light recently following a complaint by the Punjab National Bank. The complaint alleged that they cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case. Both Modi and Choski are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them.