Choksi's associate arrested, court grants 3-day transit to ED
Kolkata, Nov 6: An executive of a firm linked to fugitive Mehul Choksi was arrested from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport here by ED officials under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, officials said Tuesday.
Deepak Kulkarni was arrested Monday night in connection with the money-laundering probe in the USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case when he landed there from Hong Kong, they said.
He was produced before a city court on Tuesday and Metropolitan Magistrate, 3rd Court, Calcutta, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharyya granted three-day transit sought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take him to Mumbai, where the case was registered.
Kulkarni is allegedly linked to the overseas businesses of Choksi, one of the main accused in the case, and the ED had notified a look out circular against him, the officials said.
Kulkarni was a director in a Hong Kong-based "dummy" firm linked to Choksi and the ED had named him in a chargesheet filed against the fugitive jeweller earlier this year.
A Mumbai court had also issued a non-bailable warrant against him.
Choksi, his nephew and diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year, following a complaint from PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of about Rs 14,000 crore in connivance with some PNB employees.
Both Choksi and Modi are absconding since the case was registered by the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
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Bengaluru: Four arrested for housebreaking, threats, extortion; fake PSI among accused
Bengaluru: Vidyaranyapura police have arrested four persons, including a man posing as a Police Sub-Inspector (PSI), for allegedly breaking into a house, threatening the occupants, and extorting money while wearing police uniforms.
The arrested accused have been identified as Mallikarjuna, Pramod, Vinay, and Hrithik.
Police said the accused had hatched a plan to pose as police personnel, conduct fake raids, and extort money from residents by intimidation.
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According to the police, Mallikarjuna had failed the PSI examination twice and later falsely projected himself as a PSI. He allegedly conducted photo shoots in his hometown, Siraguppa, wearing a police uniform, baton, cap, and shoes, claiming to be serving as a PSI in Bengaluru.
On December 7, the four accused allegedly went to the house of Naveen in the Vidyaranyapura limits, threatened him with a stick and an iron rod, and claimed they had information that he was selling ganja. Under the pretext of searching, they allegedly extorted ₹87,000 through bank transfer, ₹53,000 in cash kept in the house, and ₹2,000 from his wallet.
Following Naveen’s complaint, Vidyaranyapura police registered a case and launched an operation, leading to the arrest of all four accused. Police have seized ₹45,000 in cash and the car used to commit the crime.
Further investigation is underway.
