11 arrested in PNB Fraud case

As many as 11 accused were arrested on Saturday in the billion dollar scam unearthed by Punjab National Bank (PNB).

All the accused have been sent to judicial custody by a Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court till March 28 including PNB official Gokulanath Shetty and Gitanjali group's vice president for banking operations Vipul Chitalia.

Earlier in the day, around 107 companies and seven limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are taken under the scanner following the PNB scam.

Furthermore, investigation of the select companies, as per the provisions of Section 212(1)(c) of the Companies Act, 2013 and Section 43(3)(c)(i) of Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, will be carried out by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Minister of State (MoS) for Corporate and Law and Justice, P.P. Chaudhary, said in Lok Sabha on Friday.

The minister further noted that investigation of these companies belonging to billionaire businessman Nirav Modi (Firestar Diamond group) and Mehul Choksi (Gitanjali Group) is underway.

Meanwhile, farmers in Ahmednagar's Khandala village staged a protest 'as a symbol to show their ownership' of the land which was allegedly acquired from them by businessman and main accused in the PNB scam, Nirav Modi at less than normal rates.

"Nirav Modi had acquired land of the farmers by conning them. We did this (protest) as a symbol to show our ownership of the land. Nirav Modi was given crores by the bank but farmers are not given more than Rs 10,000. We have started a 'Bhoomi Aandolan' against this", a farmer told ANI.

For the unversed, PNB had in February detected a USD 1.77 billion fraud, wherein noted jewellery designer Nirav Modi had acquired multiple letters of undertaking to avail overseas credit from a number of.

The billionaire businessman, who owns Firestarter Diamond International Private Limited, and his uncle and Gitanjali Gems owner Mehul Choksi have been accused in the case.