A special court today issued non-bailable warrants against billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi of the Gitanjali Gems Ltd. in the Rs 12,700 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.
The Enforcement Directorate had applied for a non-bailable warrants earlier this week as the two did not appear before the investigating agency for questioning. The two diamond traders are said to have left the country before criminal cases were registered.
The special court also allowed the agency to issue letters rogatory to seven more countries—Belgium, Malaysia, Armenia, France, China, Japan and Russia. The court, constituted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, has already accepted the agency's plea for sending similar requests to the U.S., the U.K., Hong Kong, the UAE, South Africa and Singapore.
Meanwhile, the special Central Bureau of Investigation court remanded the first six people it arrested in the fraud to judicial custody. These include:
- Gokulnath Shetty: retired deputy manager of PNB.
- Manoj kharat: single-window operator at PNB.
- Hemant Bhat: authorised signatory of the Nirav Modi group of firms.
- Bechhu Tiwari: chief manager in charge of forex department at PNB.
- Yashwant Joshi: scale II, manager at forex department, PNB.
- Praful Sawant: scale I officer, export responsible for checking and reporting the SWIFT messages daily at PNB.
The court also allowed the CBI to arrest Shetty in the separate case filed against Choksi.
Also Read: PNB Says Fraud Amount Could Be Rs 1,323 Crore More
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