Journalism of Courage
Assets 577% above income: Bank clerk in Nirav Modi case now faces trial
Ashalata Shetty, a bank clerk, and her husband Gokulnath, a retired PNB deputy manager named in the Nirav Modi fraud, hold assets worth Rs 4.28 crore against a known income of Rs 74 lakh, the CBI says. A special court rejected her plea that the flats were her husband's, bought only in her name.
Gokulnath is also named in the main fraud case, in which he is alleged to have signed applications for the issuance of fraudulent letters of undertaking from PNB for the benefit of Nirav Modi and others. (Express Archive)
Observing that a couple who were public servants had amassed assets disproportionate to their income by 577 per cent, a special court rejected the discharge plea of the wife named in a case linked to the alleged fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Ashalata Shetty, a bank clerk, and her husband, Gokulnath Shetty, a retired deputy manager of PNB, were named in a disproportionate assets case filed by the CBI. Gokulnath is also named in the main fraud case, in which he is alleged to have signed applications for the issuance of fraudulent letters of undertaking from PNB for the benefit of Nirav Modi and others.
“Accused number 2 (Ashalata) is a public servant but still has not informed the bank/department about the booking of flats by her and payment in lakhs and crores of rupees which is more than her known source of income… This prima facie shows that both accused have amassed crores of rupees in disproportionate assets,” special judge S K Karhale said.
The court said the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet filed against them showed assets owned by the couple valued at Rs 4.28 crore, disproportionate to their income by 577.17 per cent.
Ashalata had sought discharge from the case, claiming there was no amassing of assets and that the alleged property purchases were made by her husband in her name. CBI prosecutor Manphool Bishnoi told the court that the couple had amassed a large number of movable and immovable assets between 2011 and 2017.
The CBI claimed that the investigation showed they possessed assets valued at Rs 4.28 crore in Karnataka, against known sources of income of Rs 74 lakh. They had allegedly also purchased flats in Thane, Panvel and Malad. The couple had said they had not made complete payments for the three flats and, since the deals were cancelled, they could not be considered their assets.
The couple has been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Gokulnath, who was arrested in the main PNB cases in 2018, was released in 2024 after being granted bail by the Bombay High Court on grounds of long incarceration.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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