New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday has reportedly seized 100 acres of land belonging to billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi in connection with the alleged Rs 12,700 crore country's second largest state-run lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.
Last month, the ED had attached 21 properties, including a penthouse and a farmhouse, of Nirav Modi and his group worth over Rs 523 crore in action against the beleaguered jeweller.
The properties sealed included 10 offices, including two in Lower Parel worth around Rs 80 crore, six houses and two flats in Pune, all of which are registered in Nirav Modi’s name, in the name of his family members or companies or the Nirav Modi Trust.
On Saturday, the farmers from Khandala village in Karjat taluka of Ahmednagar district forcibly took away their plots — 250 acres in total — as the beleaguered jeweller has failed to honour the compensation agreements.
A group of over 200 farmers, who arrived in bullock carts at the tract of land at Khandala in Karjat tehsil, ploughed a part of it using a tractor as a symbolic reclaiming of possession.
Billionaire Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the PNB scam came to light following a complaint by the bank that they had allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore but the amount involved was later revised to Rs 13,900 crore as more such transactions came to light.
The ED has registered the money laundering case against Nirav Modi, his firms and others on the basis of a CBI first information report.
