Mumbai: A Special CBI court in Mumbai has sent senior executives of Nirav Modi Diamonds and Gitanjali Group and a General Manager of Punjab National Bank to Judicial Custody till March 19.
The accused are: Vipul Ambani, President of Finance of Nirav Modi's Firestar Diamond; Arjun Patil, senior executive of Firestar; Kapil Khandelwal, CFO of Nakshatra Group; Niten Shah, manager of Gitanjali; Kavita Mankikar, executive assistant of Nirav Modi jewels and Rajesh Jindal of PNB.
The six were arrested by the CBI around two weeks back in connection with the Rs 11400 crore involving diamond designer Nirav Modi and Punjab National Bank.
As per the remand application of the CBI, Ambani was fully aware of the fraudulent and illegal Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) that were issued by PNB officials in connivance with Nirav Modi and his employees.
The CBI informed the court that the LoUs were also seized from the company where Ambani was a senior official. According to the investigating agency, Ambani in his capacity as the president (finance) of Firestar Group of Companies was also visiting and meeting not only officials at PNB Brady House branch, but also the officials of PNB circle office and zonal office in Mumbai and head office New Delhi.
The agency, in its remand application, stated that the magnitude of the case is yet to be ascertained and that many more perpetrators of the fraud are yet to be identified.
"The cascading effect of this economic offence is multifold. Any laxity in dealing with these scamsters will be affecting the common man's faith in the system and the morale of the honest citizens of the country," reads the remand copy.
CBI stated that the accused are in good health and if they are released on bail, they may tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses. The accused may flee the country if released on bail and therefore their judicial custody is important, submitted the CBI.
Vipul Ambani’s lawyer told the court he was suffering from gastro and back pain. The court directed jail superintendents of Arthur Road and Byculla Women’s jail to allow medical assistance to the accused. The court also allowed medicines for blood pressure for accused Rajesh Jindal.
Seventeen arrests have been made by the CBI in connection with the case so far. On Sunday, two employees and an auditor of Modi group of companies and firms and a director of Choksi’s Gitanjali group was arrested. On Monday, all four were sent to CBI custody till March 17.
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