Nirav Modi files gutted in I-T building blaze

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, June 3

Files pertaining to absconding jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi besides several others wanted for economic offences have been destroyed in a major fire that broke out on the premises of the Income Tax Department on Friday, according to sources.

The fire, which broke out at the heritage Scindia House building in South Mumbai’s Ballard Estate area around 5 pm on Friday evening, raged on till early Saturday. Fire Brigade officials said it was a Level 4 fire which indicated a high level of seriousness. Seven persons, who were trapped in the premises, were rescued by the fire department.

Cooling operations were completed only by Saturday afternoon and officials of the Income Tax Department and the Debt Recovery Tribunal, whose offices were completely gutted, managed to enter the premises only late in the evening to assess the damage.

According to initial information available from the fire department, the blaze started in the offices of the Income Tax Department and quickly spread to other parts of the building.

Sources in the Income Tax Department said files pertaining to Modi and Choksi apart from some documents relating to the Essar Group were also in the premises. All of them are undergoing investigation for fraud or facing bankruptcy proceedings. They, however, added that it will take them a few days to actually assess the damage caused by the blaze.

RTI activist Anil Galgali, who has obtained a number of documents under the sunshine law, told reporters that the fire may have been deliberately caused by vested interests.

News reports appearing in some sections of media alleging that records/documents relating to investigation of Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi have been destroyed in the Scindia House fire in ITOffice,Mumbai are completely false & misdirected @PMOIndia @FinMinIndia @arunjaitley @adhia03

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) June 3, 2018

On the other hand, Income Tax officials felt that the fire would only cause some delays in investigations and files lost in the fire will take time to be reconstructed. “Copies of documents are usually available at various other locations, but it will take time to “reconstruct” the files,” a source at the Income Tax Department said.

It is clarified that records/documents of ongoing investigation of Nirav Modi/ Mehul Choksi case had already been transferred to assessment units housed in other buildings as part of assessment process. Apprehensions of loss/damage to records(Scindia House,ITOffice fire)misplaced

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) June 3, 2018