CBI arrests PNB officials

In a major swoop, the CBI arrested 10 people, including two directors of a private company and eight officials of the Punjab National Bank (PNB), in connection with a scam similar to the one masterminded by diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

The PNB branch is the same Brady House branch in the Fort area of Mumbai, which was duped by the now absconding uncle-nephew duo.

The nearly Rs 9 crore scam was unearthed during the ongoing investigations in the multi-crore PNB scam.

CBI officials said on Wednesday that the case was registered on the allegations of defrauding of PNB, Brady House, to the tune of around $1421311.82 (equivalent to Rs.9,09,63,956.48 at Rs.64 per $) in the matter of dishonest and fraudulent issuance of two Letters of Undertakings (LoU) aggregating to the said amount, in favour of State Bank of India (SBI), Antwerp, Belgium.

The arrested accused were produced before the designated CBI court in Mumbai and remanded to police custody till January 21.

The accused were identified as Ishwardas Agarwal and Aditya Rasiwasia, both Directors of Chandri Paper & Allied Products Pvt Ltd.

The eight PNB officials of PNB, MCB, Brady House, Mumbai are Sanjay Kumar Prasad, then AGM/Branch Head (presently DGM, PNB, New Delhi); Amar Sukhdev Jadhav, the then Single Window Operator; Sagar Dattaram Sawant, the then Single Window Operator; Bechu Bansi Tiwari, the then Chief Manager, Foreign Exchange Department; Yashwant Trimbak Joshi, the then Manager, Foreign Exchange Department; Prafful PrakashSawant, the then Officer, Foreign Exchange Department; Mohinder Kumar Sharma, the then Chief Internal Auditor and Manoj Hanumant Kharat, the then Single Window Operator.