The official, identified as Dinesh Dubey – former Allahabad bank director, claimed that he was forced to resign from post due to pressure from the then Finance Secretary for trying to expose the scam.
ED expanded its probe from 17 to 35 locations across various cities, as it asked Modi's designer jewellery chain headquarters in Mumbai to issue a sales embargo for its overseas stores.
The development comes as raids are being conducted in at least 20 locations related to the Gitanjali group of companies, promoted by Nirav Modi's maternal uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, in six cities and five states.
Rajnish Kumar also pointed out that the SBI has "a small exposure to Gitanjali Gems", owned by the uncle of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, "but it is not a point of worry".
Banerjee, who was interacting with officials in Jhargram district, said banks should extend cooperation to poor farmers, SHG members and small entrepreneurs to make them self-reliant and boost development.
Earlier today, the MEA had suspended with immediate effect the passports of Nirav Modi and his business partner Mehul Choksi for four weeks.
Sunil Mehta, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Punjab National Bank said the bank "will not spare anyone" involved in the crime.
Besides Allahabad Bank, names of 16 banks including SBI, Union Bank of India and Axis Bank have also featured in the list banks that offered credit on PNB's LoUs. Among them, the Allahabad Bank has the largest exposure.
Addressing the media here, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the government's alertness brought the fraud into light.
Nirav, who was alleged to have carried out fraudulent transactions worth over Rs 11,400 crore in Punjab National Bank, had left the country on January 1, while his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, left on January 4.
Shares of Punjab National Bank continued to reel under selling pressure for the third consecutive day after the detection of a massive Rs 11,400-crore fraud. It ended lower by 2.10 per cent.
The PNB had filed the complaint on February 13 in the Rs 11,515 crore ($1.8 billion) fraudulent transactions.
Modi and Choksi, who are believed to have fled the country in the first week of January, have been summoned under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and asked to appear before the agency within a week's time.
By paying the other banks, reports said, only the balance sheet of PNB will suffer and thus others will not have to make provisions. As many as 30 banks discounted the bills based on PNB’s LoUs.
The count of suspended Punjab National Bank employees has risen to 18 with the suspension of 8 more employees.
Nirav Modi, who holds an Indian passport, left India on January 1, while his brother Nishal, a Belgian citizen, departed from the country on same day. However, whether they travelled together has to be probed, they said.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance today asked the ministry officials including Secretary Financial Services Rajiv Kumar that how can the tax payers' money be used for recapitalising the bank which is not well managed.
Nirav Modi, a regular on the lists of rich and famous Indians since 2013, was booked by the CBI, along with wife, brother and business partner Choksi on January 31, for allegedly cheating the state-run Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 280 crore
PNB has detected a USD 1.77 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) scam where billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from a branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said no loans have been given in Modi govt's tenure which can become NPAs and the loan to Nirav Modi was given during the tenure of UPA
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