NiMo, Choksi’s plea to quiz ED officers rejected

Mumbai: A special court on Thursday dismissed applications filed by Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi seeking the court’s permission to cross-examine a few officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and also 19 witnesses whose statements were recorded by the ED to prove them fugitive offenders in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. The accused wanted to cross-examine them to check the correctness of contents and allegations made in the statements, as the accused are denying them.

Special judge M.S. Azmi dismissed the pleas of both the persons on Thursday and said a detailed order will be made available in due course.

Mr Choksi and Mr Modi had filed the application against the ED’s applications seeking to declare them as Fugitive Economic Offenders and also sought permission to confiscate their properties.

They had contended that the ED has conducted a one-sided investigation. The agency has not gone into the merits of the case and has not considered the relevant documents or examined the relevant persons before resorting to the said action, the claimed.

It was contended before the court that the witnesses relied upon by the ED have to be cross-examined by the lawyers of the applicants on various aspects of the matter, as the agency would be relying upon these statements against the accused in the court proceedings.

“The usage of the said statements against the alleged fugitive accused without giving him a chance to cross-examine the said witnesses is against the mandate of law,” the application read.