CBI files fresh FIRs against Mehul Choksi in Rs 6,000 crore fraud case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two fresh FIRs against fugitive diamentaire Mehul Choksi and two jewellery brands–Nakshatra Brands Limited and Gitanjali Gems Limited–for defrauding a consortium of banks of over Rs 6,000 crore.
CBI officials received complaints from Vijay Kumar Wadhwa, deputy general manager of the zonal office of the Punjab National Bank in Mumbai, against Nakshatra Brands Ltd and Gitanjali Gems Ltd, Mehul Choksi, who is the managing director of Gitanjal Gems Ltd and a guarantor for Nakshatra Brands Ltd, Dhanesh Vrajlal Sheth, director of Nakshatra Brands Ltd, and several others, including public servants, for causing wrongful loss of over Rs 6,000 crores to a consortium of banks.
In the first complaint pertaining to Nakshatra Brands Limited, it was alleged that the jewellery brand is a subsidiary of Gitanjai Gems Ltd and that Nakshtra Brands Ltd is dominantly controlled and managed by Mehul Choksi who was in active connivance with the accused persons named in the FIR.
The jewellery brand and other accused persons, including Choksi, were party to a criminal conspiracy to cheat a consortium of nine member banks led by Punjab National Bank of Rs 807.72 crores between January 21, 2010 to April 1, 2010.