Court allows ED to grill those held in PNB case

A special CBI court on Monday allowed the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) plea seeking permission to interrogate employees of the Nirav Modi group firms who are in judicial custody in the alleged Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

“The ED’s plea is allowed,” said special CBI judge S R Tamboli.

The agency had last week approached the court seeking its nod to question some of the accused, arrested by the CBI, who are in judicial custody at present. The accused are lodged in the high security Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

“We had sought permission saying that we have registered a case and we want to interrogate them,” said an ED official.

The ED had sought permission to interrogate Vipul Ambani (president, finance, Firestar Diamond — a Nirav Modi group firm), Manish Bosamiya (then assistant general manager, operation, of Firestar International), Miten Pandia (then financial manager at Firestar International), Sanjay Rambhia (auditor of Nirav Modi group), Vipul Chatalia (vice-president, banking operations, Firestar) and Kavita Mankikar (executive assistant and authorised signatory of Diamond R US, Stellar Diamond, and Solar Exports).

On January 31 and February 15, 2018, the CBI and the ED registered separate cases against Modi, his companies, and diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi in connection with the PNB fraud. The CBI has so far arrested a total of 19 accused, including Gokulnath Shetty, former DGM, PNB. Meanwhile, the court on Monday rejected the bail application of Rajesh Jindal, the then head of the Brady House branch of PNB in south Mumbai.

A special PMLA court has already issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Modi and his maternal uncle Choksi who had left the country before the alleged scam came to light.