CBI Files New FIR Against Mehul Choksi for Defrauding Canara Bank-Led Consortium

Choksi is already wanted by the CBI and ED, in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Mehul Choksi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a fresh First Information Report (FIR) against fugitive Mehul Choksi for allegedly cheating a Canara Bank-led group of companies of Rs 55.27 crore, officials said on Thursday, 14 July.

The central agency has also booked Bezel Jewellery and its full-time directors, including Choksi, Chetna Jhaveri, Dinesh Bhatia, and Milind Limaye.

The Canara Bank and Bank of Maharashtra had sanctioned Rs 30 crore and Rs 25 crore as working capital facility to Bezel Jewellery, but the company reportedly did not route any of the business transactions through the account to hide fund diversion.

The loan, which was granted for the manufacturing and sale of gold and diamond-studded jewellery, was not repaid causing a loss of Rs 55.27 crore to the Canara Bank-led group of companies.

Nirav Modi's uncle Choksi is already wanted by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. After he fled India in 2018, he became an Antigua and Barbuda citizen and settled there, days before the CBI registered the first case against him.

He is currently facing extradition proceedings and a case challenging the legal validity of his Antiguan citizenship.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)