ED registers PMLA case against NiMo
Seizes valuables worth over Rs 36 cr
The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday registered Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against absconding diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and others in the PNB fraud case.
The ED on Saturday said it seized valuables worth over Rs 36 crore of Nirav Modi.
An ED official said that joint searches with the CBI were carried from Thursday to early Saturday at Nirav Modi’s palatial ‘Samudra Mahal’ residence in Mumbai.
The items seized included Rs 10-crore diamond ring, antique jewellery worth Rs 15 crore, high-end watches valued at Rs 1.40 crore, Rs 10 crore-worth paintings by renowned artists including MF Hussain, KK Hebbar and Amrita Shergil.
The searches were conducted as part of a money trail by the ED and CBI after cases were registered against Nirav Modi and his business partner and uncle Mehul Choksi of the Gitanjali Group for defrauding the banks.
Choksi and Nirav Modi fled the country in January around a month before the PNB filed its first complaint against them. They are still at large.
So far, the ED has carried out searches at some 251 properties across the country and seized diamond, gold, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones.
The ED has also claimed to have attached immovable properties belonging to their business groups to the tune of Rs 7,638 crore.