PNB scam: Court orders issuance of NBW against Mehul Choksi

A special CBI court today took cognisance of the second chargesheet filed in the Rs 12,636-crore PNB fraud case and ordered the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, a key accused.

The second chargesheet has been registered for a total amount of Rs 7,080.86 crore, covering 142 letters of undertaking (LOUs) and 58 foreign letters of credit (FLCs). It names 16 entities and individuals, including top PNB officials.

The chargesheet names managing director of Gitanjali group Mehul Choksi, former PNB managing director and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian and two serving executive directors of PNB, Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty among others.

Along with Anathasubramanian, who was the managing director and CEO of PNB from August 2015 to May 2017, Sharan and Rao were charged under section 409 (criminal breach of trust) and section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act for causing wrongful losses to the bank and criminal breach of trust of the public.

A CBI officer said the issuance of NBW would allow the CBI to approach the Interpol for issuing a Red Corner Notice against Choksi as well as Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal and an executive of the Nirav Modi Group, Subhash Parab.

Yesterday, the court passed an order for the issuance of an NBW against Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal and Parab on a similar ground.

According to the chargesheet, during the period from 2015 to 2018, Choksi and top officials of Gitanjali Gems entered into a criminal conspiracy with Gokulnath Shetty, then deputy manager of PNB Brady House branch, and other accused bank officials to defraud the bank by fraudulently issuing Letter of Undertaking and Foreign Letter of Credit through three companies, Gitanjali Gems Limited, Gili India Ltd and Nakshtra Brand Ltd.

This was done by dishonestly misrepresenting and submitting documents to banks and misappropriating the funds of the bank, the chargesheet said.

They committed an offence of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct by abuse of official position by a public servant, it added.