The Income Tax (I-T) Department has provisionally attached four immovable assets of diamantaire Nirav Modi, including a farm house in Alibaug, near Mumbai, valued at Rs 13 crores, a 5.24 MW solar power plant spread over 135 acres of land in Karjat in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, along with two other properties. “The total value of these attached assets is Rs 70 crores,” a senior official said. The I-T department said it has also issued a Look Out Circular (LoC), also known as a blue corner notice, against Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to keep a tab on their entry at all land, air and sea ports in the country.
See also: Warrant issued against Nirav Modi, for tax evasion in a benami property case
The department also attached 34 bank accounts and fixed deposits, valued at Rs 1.45 crores, of the Gitanjali Group. Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the Punjab National Bank (PNB) disclosed a fraud, valued at close to UDS 2 billion, wherein, they allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from its Brady House branch in Fort area, for overseas credit from other lenders.
Earlier this week, PNB had said the amount of unauthorised transactions could go up by more than Rs 1,300 crores, from the earlier estimate of Rs 11,400 crores. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have registered two FIRs each in this case.
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