Mehul Choksi, an accused in nearly $2 billion Punjab National Bank Fraud case, told the CBI in a letter that it is not possible for him to travel back to India as his passport has been suspended.
A Blue Corner notice was issued against diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group and Nirav Modi in February.
"It is impossible for me to travel back to India. I wish to point out that the Regional Passport Office Mumbai has not given me any explanation as to why my passport has been suspended and as to how I am a security threat to India," Choksi has said in letter dated March 7, reported NDTV.
In the March 7 dated letter, according to news agency Reuters, the jeweller said the seizure of his assets, bank accounts and the shutting down of all his offices in India has caused prejudice against him.
Diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, his uncle Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the scam recently came to light following a complaint by the PNB that they had allegedly cheated the nationalised bank of more Rs 12,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
The CBI and the ED have registered FIRs to probe the case and intensified the crackdown on Modi and Choksi, with the ED seizing jewellery and assets worth thousands of crores of rupees, the I-T department attaching various properties and the CBI grilling several senior executives of his company.
The CBI has, so far, have arrested more than a dozen people, including former and current officials of PNB and companies related to Modi and Choksi, in connection with the case.
On Wednesday, the CBI registered a fresh case against Modi. The action has been taken on a complaint by the bank on March 4, the police said.
The CBI has named Modi, then president (finance) of his Firestar Diamonds International Limited Vipul Ambani, chief finance officer Ravi Gupta, other directors and officials of the company, and unidentified public servants of the bank. This is the second CBI FIR in which Modi has been named.
The bank has alleged in its complaint that its Brady Road branch in Mumbai had extended credit facilities to Firestar group between 2013 and 2017.
(With PTI inputs)
