Passports of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi suspended; raids go on

New Delhi: The passports of celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and his business associate Mehul Choksi have been suspended amid investigations into the Rs. 11,300 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. Their passports could be cancelled if they do not return to India within four weeks.

The CBI on Friday also registered a fresh FIR against the Gitanjali Group promoted by Mehul Choksi, uncle of billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, following a complaint from Punjab National Bank, and also approached the Interpol to locate them.

Officials said the fresh FIR was based on a complaint from the PNB dated February 13. According to it, the alleged loss to PNB was over Rs 4,886 crore, they said.

The agency on Friday also carried out searches on the premises of the Gitanjali Group at 20 places in Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Coimbatore.

"Searches are at locations belonging to Gitanjali group of Mehul Choksy, other directors of the accused companies and other group factories and plants including offices, factories and residences," a CBI spokesperson said here on Friday.

The officials also said the central agency approached the Interpol with a request for issuing Diffusion Notice which was aimed at locating an individual.

The CBI was confident about getting a location of Modi and his family by Friday, they said.

However, in a related development English news channels claimed to have tracked down the billionaire jeweller to a swanky New York hotel on Friday.

Modi, who was alleged to have carried out fraudulent transactions worth over Rs 11,400 crore in PNB, had left the country in the first week of January.

The question as to why the PNB did not send a complaint to the CBI and decided to give it in tranches is also under the scanner of the agency, they said.

The bank has claimed in three complaints to the CBI that so far it has detected 150 Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) which were fraudulently issued by its officials in connivance with Modi and the other accused in the case, the officials said.

The ED on Friday issued a summons for appearance to billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his business partner Mehul Choksi in connection with its money laundering probe.

Thirty-five new locations were raided, covering 11 states, by the ED. Diamond and gold worth Rs 549 crore were seized, bringing the total recovery to Rs 5649 crore. Twenty-nine immovable properties were also identified during the raids.

ED also directed Nirav Modi's company head office to make sure that "no sales should take place at its four outlets abroad - Macau, Beijing, New York and London".

Punjab National Bank has suspended eight more officials, including one at the general manager level, for their suspected involvement in the multi-crore scam, a senior government official said.

The official also said that PNB will repay other banks their dues by March 31 and would be funded from internal resources.

See also inside