CBI court gives bail to PNB scam accused

Mumbai: A special CBI court on Monday granted bail to Nitin Shahi— a former assistant finance manager of fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Group— who was arrested for his alleged role in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. Special CBI judge J.C. Jagdale on Monday granted Shahi bail on a surety of Rs 1 lakh.

“The CBI court has granted bail to our client Shahi and we are expected to receive a detailed order Tuesday,” said Shahi’s lawyer Sanjay Abbot. The prosecution case is that Choksi and his companies allegedly siphoned off over Rs 7,080 crore by using 142 letters of undertaking (LoUs) and 58 foreign letters of credit fraudulently. According to the CBI, Shahi was allegedly part of the scam and also played an important role in getting the LoUs.

The special CBI court has earlier rejected the bail applications of some of the accused in the multi-crore scam involving fugitive diamantaires Choksi and Nirav Modi.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a separate investigation into the PNB scam, last week submitted two separate applications against Modi and Choksi in a designated court for issuance of notices to them under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance and declaring them as fugitives. On the basis of the CBI probe, the ED, too, simultaneously filed a complaint and initiated an investigation against Modi and Choksi. The ED has requested the court to order confiscation of their assets.