PNB case: Purvi Modi moves court to cancel NBW, ED attaches further properties of Mehul Choksi

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Feb 5, 2021

In the ongoing Punjab National Bank fraud case, jeweller Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi Modi and her husband asked a court to cancel their non-bailable warrants. The Enforcement Directorate recently attached further properties of jeweller Mehul Choksi. 

 
On February 4, Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta, both foreign citizens, filed applications before special Prevention of Money Laundering Act judge, V C Barde, in their attempt to cancel their NBWs, the Press Trust of India reported. At the hearing, the court asked the ED to file a reply to the request, which will be addressed at a hearing on February 11. 
 
Purvi Modi and Maiank Mehta were both previously named as accused in the PNB fraud case, but the PMLA recently accepted their plea for pardons in the case in exchange for acting as prosecution witnesses. 

The other main accused in the fraud case, jeweller and Gitanjali Gems promoter, Mehul Choksi, also saw more of his property attached to the case by the ED, ET Bureau reported. The new set of attached assets belong to both Choksi himself and Gitanjali Gems and are worth Rs 14.45 crore (Rs 2.2 million). The list of assets includes an apartment, gold and platinum jewellery, diamond jewellery, and a car.
 
Mehul Choksi is currently believed to be residing in Antigua, where he took citizenship before news of the alleged fraud broke in the press. Nivav Modi is held in UK police custody in Wandsworth Prison awaiting the verdict of his extradition trial.