PNB fraud : Passports of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi cancelled for four weeks
New Delhi, Feb 16 (IBNS) : The Government on Friday announced that the passport of the fugitive billionaire Nirav Modi, the prime accused in the Rs. 11,292-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, and his business partner Mehul Choksi have been cancelled for four weeks.
“On the advice of the Enforcement Directorate, the passport issuing authority in the Ministry of External Affairs has suspended the validity of passports of Mr. Nirav Deepak Modi and Mr. Mehul Chinubhai Choksi with immediate effect for a period of four weeks u/s 10(A) of the Passports Act 1967,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.
Modi, who is in the centre of a huge storm, reportedly left the country in January, much before the scam came to light.
According to media reports, he is now in New York.
Meanwhile, Interpol has issued diffusion notice against Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal and partner Choksi.
The diffusion notice is a request for cooperation or alert mechanism, less formal than an actual Notice but is also used to request the arrest or location of an individual or additional information in relation to a police investigation.
While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases against Modi, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly seized gold and diamond worth Rs 5,500 crores from the searches conducted at 17 properties of the diamond merchant across India.
ED sleuths also sealed six properties owned by the fugitive jewellery designer.
The ED has issued summons for appearance to diamond merchant Modi and Choksi in connection with alleged money laundering.
They said both Modi and Choksi were summoned under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and asked to depose within a week’s time.
CBI has registered an FIR against Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Group of companies on the complaint of Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The agency is still conducting searches at locations of Gitanjali Group Companies at 20 places in six cities across the country.
On February 14, the CBI received complaints from PNB, which detected a Rs 11,292 crore fraud involving Modi.
ED started raiding Nirav Modi’s home, offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Surat on Thursday.
According to reports, Punjab National Bank has suspended eight more officials. The number of suspended employees now stands at 18, which also includes General Manager level officers. Internal investigation of the bank is still underway.
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