Ritika
New Delhi. The Supreme Court has decided to hear after two weeks the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea against the Bombay High Court order that absconded accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. Diamond trader Nirav Modi’s relative Mainak Mehta was allowed to travel abroad.
Earlier, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala had asked Mehta to write to the banks, where the CBI is probing his accounts, seeking details of the transactions. The bench recorded the statement of senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for Mehta, that a letter has been sent to the banks seeking details of the transactions.
The bench said in its order on Monday, “The banks have said that the matter is being looked into. Action will be taken after two weeks when we get the status report.”
Desai said Mehta has been cooperating with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and was made approver in the money laundering case involving Nirav Modi, and is now being harassed by the CBI.
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Additional Solicitor General S V Raju said Mehta had links with Nirav Modi, an accused in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case and did not cooperate in the investigation. The CBI alleges that Mehta received the bulk of the embezzled money in the PNB fraud, which was transferred to his wife’s bank account.
The bench had said that details of all communication with the banks should be shared with the probe agency. The apex court had said that it would allow Mehta to travel abroad after submitting the bank details and posted the matter for hearing on November 14.
The Bombay High Court had on August 23 dismissed the CBI’s plea against the order of a special court hearing cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which allowed Mehta to travel to Hong Kong. The CBI wanted the order of the PMLA court to be stayed. (agency)
