New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Hasmukh Shah, a former director and authorized signatory of Forever Precious Jewellery and Diamonds Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Winsome Diamonds group in connection with the Punjab National Bank scam.
It is alleged that Shah was a close confidante of Winsome Diamonds promoter Jatin Mehta, an accused in the case, and was orchestrating the export-import operations of the company. He was also allegedly liasoning with the banks.
The arrested accused will be produced before the Special Judge for CBI cases in Mumbai on Tuesday.
On a related note, Mehta’s Winsome Diamonds, including its subsidiary Forever Precious Jewellery and Diamonds Pvt Ltd, was incriminated in a huge loan defaulting scam amounting to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore in 2017, and the PNB was one of the banks that were defrauded by the company.
Before celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi hit the PNB with a staggering Rs 11,400 crore of loan default, Winsome Diamonds case was considered the second largest case of loan defaulting after Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines.
Since the PNB scam surfaced, the CBI has arrested many persons and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized many assets belonging to Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Group, another key accused in the case. (ANI)