CBI files 1st charge sheet against Nirav Modi

Nirav Modi. File Pic

Almost four months into the investigation of the Rs 11,400-crore PNB scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed a charge sheet against Nirav Modi and 24 others, including senior bank officials. This is the first charge sheet that has been filed against the absconding jeweller since the CBI and ED registered cases against him. Sources said that while Modi is suspected to be in Honk Kong, Mehul Choksi is most likely in the US.

According to sources, the senior bank officials named in the charge sheet include, Usha Ananthasubramanian, then MD & CEO, PNB; K V Bramhaji Rao, ED, PNB; and Sanjeev Sharan, ED, PNB. Another prominent name involved in the case is Vipul Ambani, president (investor relation & corporate affairs) of the firm. The charge sheet has been filed under sections of cheating and conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Criminal conspiracy
On January 31 this year, the CBI registered a case against Modi and some former officials of PNB on a complaint of the bank that the accused had hatched a criminal conspiracy to defraud the company by issuing fake letters of undertaking. Gokulnath Shetty, the then deputy manager, PNB, Brady House, has been named as one of the key accused in the case. During investigation, the CBI conducted searches at 42 locations and arrested 15 people. More than 80 witnesses have been examined.

The investigation
The CBI probe has revealed that from 2011 to 2017, the accused officials along with Modi and others fraudulently issued a large number of LoUs to overseas banks for obtaining buyer's credit in favour of some of the jeweller's firms. The transactions happened without any sanctioned limit or cash margin and without making any entries in the bank's CBS system.

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