PNB fraud: Retired deputy manager, two others sent to 14-day custody

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court on Saturday sent all three accused arrested in Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case to police custody till March 3.

The three accused sent to custody is Gokulnath Shetty the then Deputy Manager, Manoj Kharat, SWO (single window operator) of the PNB and Hemant Bhat, Authorised Signatory of the Nirav Modi Group of Firms.

Kudrat Sheikh, the lawyer of Manoj Kharat said that the latter has no role in the said case and was coerced to work.

"Manoj Kharat was just a clerk and typed letter under pressure from Gokulnath Shetty. He has no role in the case, we'll file bail application," Sheikh said.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operation at 21 other locations across India in connection with Nirav Modi case and seized diamonds, gold, precious stones, metals and jewellery worth Rs 25 crore (Book Value).

With this, the total seizure till now from Nirav Modi case is worth Rs 5674 Crore.

Punjab National Bank detected a 1.77 billion dollars scam in which jeweller Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The scam was started in 2011 and was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned agencies.

Meanwhile, the PNB filed a second complaint with the CBI on February 13.

The CBI had received the complaint from PNB on January 28 and a case was registered in the case on January 31.