Govt must get free hand to probe fraud: SC

New Delhi, February 21

The government must get a free hand to probe the over Rs 11,000 crore PNB fraud case, allegedly involving billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, the Supreme Court said today.

The top court said it would step in only when agencies fail to carry out the investigation properly. 

The Centre, represented by Attorney General KK Venugopal, vehemently opposed a PIL, seeking an independent probe and deportation of Nirav Modi, before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra saying “the inquiry has started and the FIRs have been registered”.

“If the government does not do things that are required, then you (petitioner) can come. It is not that the government agencies are not acting,” the Bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said, adding that the government must have “a free hand” to probe the scam.

Lawyer Vineet Dhanda, who has filed the PIL, said either notice be issued or a status report called from the Centre as “the whole country was watching that the government had not done anything” in the past in a similar case relating to Vijay Mallya.

“Speeches have no impact on the court. We will hear the legal issue and not the emotional aspect,” the Bench said, adding “this is not the way you argue a petition. The purpose is to gain publicity.” The court took serious note of the intervention by Dhanda when Venugopal was putting forth the stand of the Centre, and said “I cannot say that anywhere in the world the Attorney General is stopped like this”. “These are publicity-oriented litigations,” the Bench said, adding that the petitioner lawyer was “playing to the gallery”.

The Bench then fixed the PIL for hearing on March 16, saying “we are not saying anything today”. The SC also said it would hear the objections of the Attorney General to the petition on the next date.

The PIL has made PNB, RBI and the ministries of finance and law and justice as parties. It has sought a direction for initiation of deportation proceedings against Nirav and others involved in the fraud, preferably within two months. — PTI

CBI arrests bank GM 

• The CBI has arrested Rajesh Jindal, General Manager (Credit), PNB, Delhi, who headed the bank’s Brady House Branch in Mumbai between August 2009 and May 2011
• The probe agency said it was during Jindal’s tenure in Mumbai, the practice of issuance of Letter of Understanding without sanctioned limits to the Nirav Modi group had started
• The ED stepped up its action against the suspected shell firms linked to operations of Nirav Modi and Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi
• While the ED seized assets worth Rs 10 crore, the I-T dept attached 141 bank accounts and FDs worth Rs 145.74 crore of the Nirav Modi group

CBI seals Nirav’s Alibaug farmhouse 

New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday sealed a luxury property of billionaire Nirav Modi in Alibaug area near Mumbai, officials said.

The 1.5 acre farmhouse in the uber rich neighbourhood at a stone's throw distance from Arabian Sea was purchased by Modi in 2004 for Rs 32 crore for hosting special parties for his clientele to showcase his precious jewellery collection. The area has imposing farmhouses of the creme de la creme of cinema and the business world.

The "haut diamantaire's" expansive farmhouse, located about 100 km by road from Mumbai in Raigad district, also has a 12,000 sq ft bungalow with five bedrooms, a large swimming pool, a movie theatre and a library. PTI

10,000 employees left in the lurch 

Mumbai: Nearly 10,000 people who were employed directly and indirectly with diamantaires Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi have been thrown out of jobs without salaries and other statutory dues being paid after their properties were sealed by the investigating agencies.

According to complaints filed with Maharashtra’s Labour Commissioner, at least 500 employees in Choksi’s Gitanjali gems in Mumbai have been asked to look for other jobs even without a notice period. “We have received complaints that employees of Gitanjali Gems and other companies have not been paid for several months,” a source at the Labour Commissioner’s office said. TNS