Mumbai special court allows evaluation of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi’s properties for auction

The liquidator submitted that in 2024, the court had similarly allowed the valuation of secured properties of the company. Choksi and
Modi, named in the Rs 23,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, are facing extradition proceedings in Belgium and the UK, respectively. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had said that the court might pass necessary orders.

“Post undertaking the aforesaid valuation process, the applicant liquidator is allowed to auction the unsecured properties which are
held by Gitanjali Gems Ltd … .by following due process under the applicable law…,” Special Judge A V Gujarati said in the order. The court said the applicants would be allowed to open fixed deposits with the proceeds from the sale of these assets.

In a separate order, by a special CBI court in Mumbai, land attached as part of the probe linked to Choksi was permitted to be released to IDBI Bank. The property in Telangana, which is land spread over 95 acres, was one of the assets attached by ED in the case. The bank had submitted that it had suffered a loss of more than Rs 259.75 crore on account of the fraud, and allowed the release of the property to the recovery officer of the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Hyderabad.