ED attaches Choksi’s properties

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached 41 properties worth Rs 1,217.20 crore belonging to billionaire diamond merchant Mehul Choksi and the companies linked to him in connection with the agency's probe pertaining to the multi-crore PNB fraud case.

The central probe agency on Thursday issued a provisional order for attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The attached assets include 15 flats and 17 office premises in Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, a four-acre farm house in Alibaug and 231 acres of land at locations like Nasik, Nagpur, Panvel and Villupuram in Tamil Nadu. A 170-acre park in Hyderabad’s Ranga Reddy district valued at over Rs 500 crore has also been attached, sources in the ED said.

Four flats in Borivali (east) area of the Maharashtra capital and nine others in Khemu Towers in Santacruz (east) have also been attached as part of the action by the ED. “The total value of the 41 seized assets controlled by Choksi is estimated at Rs 1,217.2 crore,” the ED said. Choksi and designer diamond jewellery businessman Nirav Modi and others are being investigated by the ED and other probe agencies after the bank fraud recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case. Both Mr Choksi and Mr Modi are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them.  

They have, however, denied any wrongdoing. The ED is investigating if the allegedly defrauded bank funds were laundered and proceeds of crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.

Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department on Thursday attached Nirav Modi’s four immovable assets, including a farm house and a solar power plant, worth Rs 70 crore in connection with a tax evasion probe against him and his companies. The department said it has also got issued a Look Out Circular, also known as a blue corner notice, against Mr Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to keep a tab on their entry at all land, air and sea ports in the country.

According to the officials, Mr Modi’s farm house in Alibaug, near Mumbai, valued at Rs 13 crore, the 5.24 MW solar power plant spread in 135 acres land in Karjat in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, along with two other properties, have been provisionally attached by the department.