Choksi, Nirav, Bhansali's asstes attached in PNB scam

J B S Umanadh, DHNS, Hyderabad,

Oct 17 2018, 16:29 ist
updated: Oct 17 2018, 23:58 ist

The beneficiaries of these assets put under attachment, they said, are absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi, Mihir Bhansali, a close aide and US-based executive of main accused in the case Nirav Modi, and a company named A P Gems and Jewellery Park. D

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday attached assets and valuables (cut and polished diamonds) worth Rs 218.46 crore, belonging to Mihir Bhansali, A P Gems and Jewellery Park here, Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and others, in the Punjab National Bank scam.

The total attachments till date is worth Rs 4,489 crore (assessed value).

In February, ED had seized all material and locked up Gitanjali Gems Park located in Ravirayala village in Maheswaram Block on the outskirts of Hyderabad, in connection with the Rs 11,300 crore PNB fraud.

The unit, owned by Mehul Choksi, uncle of fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, remained closed after the ED seizure as part of countrywide searches at the properties of Nirav and his associates. The material seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) included diamonds and precious stones.

It was in the year 2005 that the then Congress government led by Chief Minister of combined Andhra Pradesh Y S Rajasekhara Reddy allotted 250 acres of land for the gem park. There are five units - Gitanjali India Limited, Nakshatra World Limited, Nakshatra Brans Limited, Gilli India Limited, and Bezel Jewellery Private Limited. The park, which was initially named after the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was renamed Gitanjali Gems Park in 2014.