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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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
