PNB Fraud | Nirav Modi bungalow sealed, PNB GM caught by CBI

The CBI arrested PNB general manager Rajesh Jindal and sealed disgraced diamond czar Nirav Modi's farmhouse on Wednesday, as the agency widened its probe into India's biggest banking scam worth Rs 11,400 crore.

Jindal held the charge of PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai between August 2009 and May 2011. The CBI said Nirav's Rs 35-crore farmhouse is spread across 1.5 acres and has a palatial 12,000sqm bungalow at Alibaug near Mumbai. The agency had carried out raids that the farmhouse on Tuesday.

CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said that Jindal had allowed issuance of Letters of Undertaking without sanctioned limits to Nirav's group firm. Jindal is currently GM at PNB's head office in Delhi. The agency has got his custody till March 5.

He was arrested in Mumbai following two days of questioning.

The CBI has also got the custody of three top employees of Nirav and two of Gitanjali Gems, whose chairman is his uncle Mehul Choksi, for the same duration.

CBI has arrested Vipul Ambani, vice-president, finance, Kavita Mankikar, executive assistant, Arjun Patil, senior executive of Firestar Diamond International Pvt, Kapil Khandelwal, chief finance officer, and Niten Shahi, manager of Naksharta and Gitanjali Gems group.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also carried out raids at 17 places, including four in Mumbai. ED has carried out raids at the offices of 120 shell companies allegedly used by Nirav and Choksi to route funds.

The agency has identified 80 shell companies used by Nirav and 40 by Choksi. ED has found that foreign firms, where the funds were diverted, may have been shell companies linked to Choksi's group.

ED has found that 40 companies associated with Nirav have the same address of 15, Nagindas Mansion, Opera House, Mumbai; and that 35 front companies of Choksi operated from Laxmi Tower, office number six, in B wing, first floor, of BKC in Bandra East. One of the accused arrested is Hemant Bhat, director of 28 companies.