Nothing is in Mehul Choksi's control: Lawyer

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 23 (ANI): Gitanjali Gems owner Mehul Choksi, key accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, does not have anything in his control as all his accounts are under Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said his lawyer Sanjay Abbot.

On behalf of Abbot, Choksi on Monday moved to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act Court seeking cancellation of a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him.

In the application, Choksi cited example of mob lynching in India and stated that a few people have "grievances and anger" against him.

Asked about the same, Abbot told ANI: "My client doesn't have any accounts, everything is under CBI. Nothing is in his control. There are different grounds, it's (mob lynching is) one of them."

"We have enlisted more than 20 reasons in the application. My client has replied to every paper related to the investigation. Now, Enforcement Directorate (ED) is expected to file its reply on August 18," Abbot added.

Choksi filed the application, under Section 70(2) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The non-bailable warrant was issued against him after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in June filed two separate applications in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai against Nirav Modi and Choksi under Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018.

According to the application, Choksi is a "law abiding citizen" and "never shied away from the investigation or the investigating agencies and duly responded to all the communications received by him from the investigating agencies."

It states that due to ill health, Choksi left for abroad for a regular health checkup.

"Subsequently, his passport was revoked which made him unable to travel abroad. Companies associated with Choksi were freezed and the serves of the company were taken away due to which it became impossible for the company to function and when the company stop functioning the employees of the company were not paid their salaries and the debtors of the company were not paid their debt due to which all the persons became agitated against the present applicant and he started facing serious threat to his life which made it difficult for him to return though he left only for the purposes of medical treatment which fact was also apprised to the investigating agency," the application stated.

Choksi in the application stated that certain people have "grievances and anger" against him, including the existing employees whose salaries and dues have not been paid because of freezing of the accounts; the families of detained employees who have been arrested without any rhyme or reason; the landlords whose premises the companies had taken on rent, who have not been paid their dues; the customers whose jewellery in showroom have been taken away by the Enforcement Directorate (ED); the creditors of supplies and services, who have not been paid their dues.

The PNB detected the multi-crore scam earlier this year wherein Nirav and Choksi had allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of USD 2 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI