PNB Scam: ED freezes Nirav Modi's firm accounts with Rs 30 crore balance, shares worth Rs 13.86 crore

In what could spell more trouble to Nirav Modi, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday freezed bank accounts of Nirav Modi's firm with balance around Rs 30 crore, ED also freezed firm's share worth Rs 13.86 crore. 

During the raid, ED also seized 176 steel almirahs and 60 plastic containers that were containing imported wrist watches.

ED freezes bank accounts with Rs 30 crore balance, shares of Rs 13.86 Crore value held in a company of #NiravModi. During search on tip off , ED seized 176 steel almirahs and 60 plastic containers containing imported watches pic.twitter.com/1gFEjxnOBc

— ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2018

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday seized nine luxury cars belonging to billionaire diamond czar Nirav Modi and his companies, in connection with the Punjab National Bank fraud. They also froze mutual funds and shares totalling at Rs 94.50 crore — of which Rs 7.80 crore belonged to Modi and Rs 86.72 crore to the Mehul Choksi Group.

According to the ED officials, the cars were seized from Modi's Worli house where the central agency had conducted searches earlier as well and included one Rolls Royce Ghost, two Mercedes Benz, one Porsche Panamera, 3 Hondas, one Toyota Fortuner and one Toyota Innova. Interestingly, it has surfaced that while two of the cars were registered with the tardeo RTO under his company names Fire Stone and Fire Star, there are no registration records for the rest. "We have not yet received any communication from any other government agency about these cars. Once they ask for details we shall look into it," said a RTO officer from Tardeo.

Additionally, fresh summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) were issued against Modi for February 26, after he failed to appear and depose before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, official sources said. They added that Modi had replied to the ED's investigating officer (IO), probing the role of the diamond merchant and his uncle Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, in the PNB scam, and cited the temporary suspension of his passport and pending business issues as reasons for his non-appearance.