Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested one of the close aides of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, in connection with the multicrore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, from Kolkata airport after he landed from Hong Kong on Tuesday. The ED on Tuesday declared that they have carried out fresh attachments of 11 properties of fugitive Nirav Modi, located in Dubai.
The apprehended accused Deepak Kulkarni was Choksi’s main operator who headed the group’s operations at Hong Kong. Choksi and Modi are wanted in the case that is being probed by the ED, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence .
The investigators said that Kulkarni was Choksi’s operative who had a lookout circular (LoC) against him and hence he was on the radar of the agencies. The investigation into PNB scam led to the revelation that Kulkarni was director of the shell companies that were floated to launder the money by Choksi-Modi duo.
The ED officials will now question Kulkarni on the operations of the dummy company and on Choksi and Modi. Kulkarni was also named in the charge sheet that was filed against the duo by the ED, in Mumbai court. The court had subsequently issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Kulkarni.
“ED arrests Deepak Kulkarni, an associate of Mehul Choksi in #bankfraud case. Hon’ble court in Kolkatta grants 3 days transit remand to the accused for producing him before regular court in Mumbai,” ED stated via its official Twitter handle.
Meanwhile, the ED carried out further attachments of Modi’s properties located in Dubai. The officials revealed on Tuesday evening that they had attached 11 properties of fugitive daimantaire Modi in Dubai. These properties belong to him and his company M/s Firestar Diamond FZE.
The properties attached as per the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are worth Rs 56.8 crore (USD 7.795 million). The attachments came in the backdrop of ED provincial order pertaining to his Rs 255 crore of his overseas properties in October.
