CBI arrests 2 PNB officials, searches Brady Road branch : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

CBI arrests 2 PNB officials, searches Brady Road branch

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Saturday arrested three people - a retired and a serving officials of Punjab National Bank and an executive of Nirav Modi''s company - in connection with the alleged Rs 11,400-crore fraud, and carried out searches at the Brady Road branch of the bank in Mumbai, officials said.

CBI arrests 2 PNB officials, searches Brady Road branch

Gokulnath Shetty, then deputy manager (now retired), Manoj Kharat, a single window operator of PNB, and Hemant Bhat were taken in custody.



New Delhi, February 17

The CBI on Saturday arrested three people -- a retired and a serving officials of Punjab National Bank and an executive of Nirav Modi's company -- in connection with the alleged Rs 11,400-crore fraud, and carried out searches at the Brady Road branch of the bank in Mumbai, officials said.

The bank branch, which is in the centre of one of the biggest financial scams of the country, was searched by the agency, the sources said, adding that "incriminating documents" related to the case were recovered.

The officials at the branch were asked by CBI sleuths about the process of sending Swift messages -- notifications sent by banks to transfer funds internationally, and the functioning of internal software of the bank, they said.

The agency has taken into custody retired deputy manager of the bank Gokulnath Shetty, single-window operator Manoj Kharat, and Hemant Bhat in connection with its FIR registered on January 31 against Nirav Modi, his companies and business partner and uncle Mehul Choski, they said.

The CBI is also questioning six officials of the bank, they said.

The FIR initially listed eight fraudulent transactions worth over Rs 280 crore, but based on further complaints from the bank, the CBI now says the amount investigated in the first FIR is over Rs 6,498 crore, involving 150 Letters of Understanding (LoUs) allegedly fraudulently issued by Shetty and Kharat.

The remaining 143 fraudulent LoUs worth over Rs 4,886 crore issued for Gitanjali Group are part of the second FIR registered by the agency against Choksi and his companies Gitanjali Gems, Nakshatra Brands and Gili, they said.

All these LoUs were issued or renewed during 2017-18, the officials said.

An LoU is a letter of comfort given by a bank, a kind of guarantee, to a foreign branch of an Indian bank on behalf of its client allowing him to raise money from that bank for short-term credit. — PTI

Top News

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Ansari was hospitalised after he complained of abdominal pai...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

MEA spokesperson says India is proud of its independent and ...

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, is already beh...


Cities

View All