The name of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi wanted in a Rs 13,000-crore scam in the Punjab National Bank is understood to have been removed from the Interpol database of Red Notices on the basis of his plea to the Lyon-headquartered agency, people in the know of the development said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remained tight-lipped on the development. The Red Notice is highest form of alert issued by the 195-member country-strong Interpol to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
Despite Nirav Modi win, in the last five years, India managed to bring only about 20 fugitive offenders.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once again refused to apologise for his Modi surname remark that led to his disqualification as an MP but urged the Supreme Court to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case stemming from his comment, asserting he is not guilty.
Markets regulator Sebi has ordered the attachment of bank accounts and shares and mutual fund holdings of fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi to recover dues totalling Rs 5.35 crore. The latest decision has been taken after Choksi failed to pay the fine imposed on him in October 2022 by Sebi in a case pertaining to indulging in fraudulent trading in the shares of Gitanjali Gems Ltd. Choksi, who was the chairman and managing director as well as part of the promoter group of Gitanjali Gems, is the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi, both of whom are facing charges of defrauding state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) of more than Rs 14,000 crore.
Sebi on Thursday sent a notice to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi asking him to pay Rs 5.35 crore in a case pertaining to fraudulent trading in the shares of Gitanjali Gems Ltd and warned of arrest and attachment of assets as well as bank accounts if he fails to make the payment within 15 days. The demand notice came after Choksi failed to pay a fine imposed on him by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Choksi, who was the chairman and managing director as well as part of promoter group of Gitanjali Gems, is the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party's top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat.
Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his corruption jibe at the Opposition, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday accused him of running a "bhrashtachari bhagao abhiyan" (make the corrupt flee campaign), and said that he must stop his image makeover by posing as an anti-corruption crusader.
Gohil, speaking after the HC ruling earlier in the day, maintained that in the past the apex court has provided relief to accused in different cases.
Soon after coming out of the ED office in Kolkata, Banerjee said the interrogation was an effort to prevent him from participating in the INDIA meet and a testimony to the vital role TMC is playing in forging the opposition unity.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday told a sessions court in Surat his conviction by a magistrate's court in a 2019 defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark was erroneous, patently perverse, and he was sentenced in a manner so as to attract disqualification as a member of Parliament.
The ED has filed a fresh chargesheet against absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi, his wife Priti and others under the anti-money laundering law in connection with the over Rs 13,000-crore PNB loan fraud case, officials said on Monday. This is the first prosecution complaint filed by the central agency against Choksi's wife Priti Pradyotkumar Kothari. She has been charged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with "helping her husband in layering of the proceeds of crime".
Nultiple regulators are probing the nexus of scamsters with diamonds after a state-run bank got defrauded of $1.8 billion by designer jeweller Nirav Modi.
A quick computation puts the following value to the seizures.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's meeting with British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in London triggered a row back home with the Bharatiya Janata Party asking him whether he endorsed the UK opposition leader's "anti-India" views.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has asked neighbouring Dominica, where fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi was caught, to hand the diamantaire over to India directly, local media reported.
The court in Gujarat's Surat city which on Thursday sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to a two-year jail term in a criminal defamation case noted that the seriousness of his crime increased because a speech delivered by a Member of Parliament has a "very wide impact on the public."
Sebi orders attachment of bank, demat accounts of Mehul Choksi and Gitanjali Gems after they failed to pay fine imposed on them.
'Paying my taxes, diligently repaying my loans, following the rules, scrupulously doing things by the book, when there's this big, beautiful world of unregulated chicanery I could have indulged in for years before just flying off to greener pastures, like Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi,' says Mitali Saran.
In all, 292 allegedly fraudulent LoUs and 224 foreign letters of credit were generated and money sanctioned to Nirav Modi's companies since 2011
Bank provides for Rs 7,178 crore, or 50 pf of the total amount of the Rs 14,356 crore scam, in the fourth quarter of 2017-18. The remaining amount will be covered in the three quarters of the current fiscal year.
RBI seeks detailed report on what happened between 2011 and now; bankers to recall loans to Nirav Modi entities.
The Shiv Sena said Opposition was not targeted in such manner even during Emergency
It further said that the loan application form should be suitably modified to incorporate passport details of borrowers.
All the proceedings against Choksi of illegal entry into Dominica were dropped on May 20, the spokesperson said.
The jewellers and companies linked to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi had allegedly colluded with PNB officers to obtain fake bank guarantees to get loan from overseas branches of Indian banks including Allahabad Bank, Axis Bank and UCO Bank.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday continued raids for the seventh day as it visited 17 locations across the country, including four shell companies in Mumbai, even as the Income Tax department attached assets worth Rs 145 crore in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank fraud.
'I was put in an anda cell. No window, light or air. Only grills.' 'During the monsoon, water would seep. There were rats running around all the time.' 'We were forced to sleep under bright lights all the time. Those bright lights are never switched off.'
The RBI was not party to the decision to demonetize 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, which was taken at the highest level of India's political leadership.
It further asked the government to make suitable arrangements for smooth functioning of the bank.
Gandhi also labelled Mann Ki Baat a monologue.
The government has given sanction for prosecution against PNB executive director Sanjiv Sharan as part of the clean up exercise in the system.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned amid ruckus and sloganeering by the Opposition members over the Adani issue.
'I was shocked by the kidnapping episode. I could have lost my life.'
Days after the fraud allegedly masterminded by diamantaire Nirav Modi came to light, the prime minister asked the management of financial institutions as well as the supervisory bodies to do their job diligently to check such frauds.
The total number of arrests by the CBI has risen to six -- four PNB officials, a retired employee of the bank, and an authorsied signatory of Nirav Modi's company -- after Monday's development.
The issue of extradition of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi figured in a virtual summit between India and the United Kingdom on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that economic offenders should be sent back to the country at the earliest for trial.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has rebutted Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Randeep Singh Surjewala's allegations regarding "wilful defaulters, bad loans and write-offs", and stated that they have "attempted to mislead people in a brazen manner".
Choksi, who was allegedly the partner-in-crime of his nephew Nirav Modi in the banking fraud, refused to say anything further on the issue, on the advice of his lawyers.
The diamantaire's counsel said there is a vigilance manual circular that the consortium can lodge only one FIR. Each consortium member cannot lodge separate FIRs, he said.
A special court in Mumbai on Friday declared three family members of late gangster Iqbal Mirchi as 'fugitive economic offenders' under the provisions of a criminal law by the same name, official sources said.