Diamantaire Nirav Modi's solar power plant up for auction to salvage PNB dues

Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS) The Debt Recovery Tribunal-I here has put up a solar power plant belonging to a group entity of the absconder diamantaire Nirav D. Modi to try and recover a tiny portion of the whopping dues of over Rs 2,348-crore.

The solar power plant, with a capacity of 5.247MW is situated at Khandale village in Karjat Taluka of Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, and along with the plant and machinery, the solar plant is valued at Rs 12.40-crore.

The auction ordered by the DRT-I Recovery Officer Ajeet Tripathi on September 21 makes no mention of the revenues assessed on the property, whether it has any encumbrances or faces any claims, or any other details.

Besides, also going under the hammer for at least the third time is Nirav D. Modi’s posh flat in the fashionable Pedder Road area of south Mumbai.

The flat is on the second floor of Grosvenor Building, and proposed to be auctioned off as a fully furnished residence along with two parking lots, all collectively valued at Rs 11.70-crore.

In addition, the DRT-I plans to auction off two large land-parcels belonging to Nirav D. Modi and his group company, Firestone Trading Pvt. Ltd.

The plots are situated at different locations in Khandale Village, Karjat Taluka of Ahmednagar district, and one of the properties also houses the (aforementioned) solar power plant on it, which is being auctioned off separately.

As far as encumbrances are concerned, both these land parcels are currently mortgaged with the Union Bank of India, presumably in lieu of the loans it had extended to the diamantaire and his group companies.

The online auction shall be held on October 25 between 2-4 p.m. only, for all the listed assets, as per the DRT-I’s notification, and these properties shall be auctioned off on ‘as is where is’ and ‘as is what is’ basis.

The Certificate Debtors named are: Nirav D. Modi of Grosvenor House; Bentley Properties Pvt. Ltd, MAK Business Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, ANM Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, NDM Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Neeshal Trading Pvt Ltd -- all having a common registered address as: 15 Nagindas Mansion, 57/61 Jagannath Shankarsheth Road, Opera House, Mumbai - 400004.

The other entities figuring in the list are: Firestone Trading Pvt. Ltd, Paundra Enterprises Pvt Ltd, and Radashir Jewelery Co. Ltd - all with a single registered address as: AE-4050, A Tower, East Wing, G Block, Bharat Diamond Bourse, BKC, Bandra East, Mumbai - 400051.

Billed as the biggest banking fraud in recent Indian history, the PNB first admitted to the Rs 14,400-crore plus scam in January 2018, after which probe agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched their investigations.

The prime accused were the ‘mama-bhanja’ duo -- Mehul C. Choksi and his nephew Nirav D. Modi -- plus their family members, business associates and entities, bank officials and others.

The banks, individually and as consortiums, have been desperately attempting to recover their dues, by auctioning off vehicles, expensive artefacts, paintings, Nirav C. Modi’s huge seaside bungalow ‘Roopanya’ in Alibaug (Raigad) was demolished in March 2019, and efforts on to auction off various properties-assets seized from the ‘mama-bhanja’ tricksters.

However, long before the scam exploded on the Indian banking industry and sparked a nationwide furore, many of the accused had sneaked out of the country and Nirav D. Modi is currently in London and Mehul C. Choksi is in the tiny nation of Antigua & Barbuda Isles in the Caribbean region, and efforts are on to get them extradited to India.