ED seizes boxfuls of imported diamond-studded watches of Nirav Modi's firm

Nirav Modi

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in the wee hours of yesterday, seized a huge quantity of imported diamond-studded watches of Nirav Modi's company, which were stacked in 176 steel almirahs, 158 corrugated boxes and 60 plastic containers. Officers said the seizure was made from Nirav's Worli residence, and they suspect the watches were for sale and could be worth several crores.

The process of valuation of the seized assets is underway and as most of the watches are imported, the ED will be calling in experts to make the assessment. Apart from this, the agency has frozen R30 crore in bank accounts and company shares worth Rs 13.86 crore.

Also read: Priyanka Chopra terminates contract with Nirav Modi

Collecting assets
The ED, on Thursday, had seized nine cars, shares and mutual funds worth around R90 crore. The cars, seized from Nirav's Worli residence, are one Rolls Royce Ghost, two Mercedes Benz GL 350 CDIs, one Porsche Panamera, three Honda cars, one Toyota Fortuner and one Toyota Innova, officers said, adding that they were searching for more assets belonging to the group.

The agency has also found several paintings by MF Husain, Gaitonde and other prominent artists, but these are yet to be seized. The ED had earlier seized assets worth Rs 5,716 crore belonging to Nirav and his business partner uncle Mehul Choksi after filing of the case.

More action
ED officers said they would continue to track and seize more properties belonging to the two. The reason behind attaching the properties and seizing papers is that the accused won't be able to tamper with evidence or dispose of their property, they added.

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