The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted raids at residences and offices of billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi in connection with the Rs 280-crore cheating of Punjab National Bank (PNB) allegedly by the diamond moghul.
Quoting officials, PTI reported that ED seized diamonds, jewellery and gold worth Rs 5,100 cr during searches.
Six properties were also sealed in Mumbai by the ED in connection with this case.
The premises raided by the agency included Modi's residence in Kurla, his jewellery boutique in Kala Ghoda area, three company locations in Bandra and Lower Parel, three premises in Surat in Gujarat and Modi's showrooms in Chanakyapuri and Defence Colony in Delhi.
The development comes a day after the Punjab National Bank admitted to unearthing a fraud of Rs 11,515 crore involving Modi's companies and certain other accounts with the bank's flagship branch in Mumbai and its second largest lending window in India.
The CBI had also received two fresh complaints from PNB allegedly against Modi and a jewellery company alleging fraudulent transactions worth about Rs 11,400 crore. The CBI had booked Modi, his brother, wife and a business partner for allegedly cheating PNB of over Rs 280.70 crore in 2017.
The 46-year-old, who had figured in the Forbes' list of richest Indians, was booked by the CBI for cheating after PNB sent a complaint to it alleging that the jewellery firm owner, his brother, wife and Choksi entered into a criminal conspiracy with the officials of the bank and cheated it, causing a "wrongful loss".
"The public servants committed abuse of official position to cause pecuniary advantage to Diamond R US, Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and a wrongful loss of Rs 280.70 crore to Punjab National Bank during 2017," the CBI FIR has alleged.
The bank had also alleged in the complaint that a fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LOU) took place on January 16, 2018 for and on behalf of the accused firms, which approached the bank and presented a set of import documents to the branch with a request to allow buyers' credit for making payment to overseas suppliers.
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