They had collected Rs 3 crore through crowdfunding, mortgage and aid from their parents to open Gitanjali Jewellery Retail's franchise in Delhi's Rajouri Garden in October 2013. The group, led by electronic engineer Vaibhav Khurania, 24, and IT engineer Deepak Bansal, 23, had set up a firm RM Green Solutions.
But soon, their dreams were shattered when they realised that 'third-grade' damaged and old diamonds and gems were sent to them against a security deposit of Rs 1.5 crore, reported The Times of India.
In the last two years, the group of seven young engineering graduates from Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology (RIET) in Jaipur, dragged Mehul Choksi, the managing director of ‘Gitanjali Gems’ and the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi, to court, added the report. It added that the group alleged that Choksi's company refused to replenish the stock against the money deposited despite several messages, phone calls and emails while they came to know of other FIRs being registered.
The engineers moved the Saket court which ordered Choksi's arrest if allegations were found true. In August 2017, Choksi moved the Delhi high court seeking quashing of the FIR.
On May 7, 2015, Khuraniya was the first to alert the ministry of corporate affairs about the fraud against jewellery designer Nirav Modi, has come under the radar of various investigating agencies, following the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filing a case against the latter for conducting fraudulent transactions from the Punjab National Bank. A copy of the complaint was also sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, Enforcement Directorate, and Serious Fraud Investigation Office, but no action was taken, according to a report.
On Friday, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that a majority of the “loans” sanctioned to businessman Modi was during the Congress rule between 2011 and 2014. However, the FIR lodged by the CBI on January 31 refers to just eight Letters of Undertaking (LoUs), all of which were issued after 2017, during the NDA’s regime. Details show all the LoUs in question are from the past two years.
