Fresh Rs 321-cr fraud case against Nirav

New Delhi, March 8

The CBI on Thursday said it has registered a fresh case against diamantaire Nirav Modi for causing a loss of Rs 321 crore to Punjab National Bank (PNB) by availing different credit facilities between 2013 and 2017.

According to a Central Bureau of Investigation official, the case was registered following a fresh complaint.

Former finance president of Nirav Modi’s Firestar Diamonds International Ltd Vipul Ambani, chief finance officer Ravi Gupta, other directors and officials, and unidentified public servants of the bank were also named in the complaint, he said. This is the second CBI case in which Nirav has been named.

After months of debate around exempting sanitary napkins from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) net, the government today chose the occasion of International Women’s Day to launch centrally-sourced and distributed low-cost biodegradable sanitary pads for anyone who would care to use.

The bank alleged that during its internal investigation, it had spotted circular transactions between the Nirav-promoted partnership firms — Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and Diamond R Us — and Firestar group.

The head office of the bank had declared the accounts of Firestar Diamonds and Firestar International as fraud and reported it to the RBI on Sunday, it said.

Nirav, along with uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group, has been accused of defrauding the PNB of Rs 12,600 crore, with Rs 1,300 crore being added to the fraud kitty on February 26.  — IANS

CBI summons again

The CBI has sent fresh summons to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi to join probe as early as possible and made it clear that they were “obliged” to cooperate with the probe agency, officials said. This came as Choksi, in an e-mail reply to a CBI’s notice, said it was “impossible” for him to return and join investigation due to suspension of his passport and ill-health. PTI