The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested Shyam Sunder Wadhwa, the vice president of finance at the Firestar Group and a confidante of jeweller Nirav Modi.
The Enforcement Directorate said it has arrested Wadhwa under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The Firestar group is part of Modi’s jewellery empire.
Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of cheating the Punjab National Bank of Rs 12,703 crore. Both men left the country in early January, and have so far not appeared before investigating agencies despite several summons.
In February, the Central Bureau of Investigation had arrested Vipul Ambani, the president of finance at Firestar International. In March, Ambani claimed the CBI did not follow due procedure while arresting him and moved the Bombay High Court to challenge his arrest.
On March 19, the Enforcement Directorate asked the Delhi High Court to reject a plea filed by Firestar for a stay on the proceedings, and said Modi was “indirectly challenging” the money laundering case filed in the Punjab National Bank scam.
Additional Solicitor General Sandeep Sethi had told the bench of justices S Muralidhar and IS Mehta that Modi was trying to abuse the process of law by filing a plea through his company. The central government’s counsel, Amit Mahajan, said it would be a “grave miscarriage of justice” to the inquiry if the court accepts Modi’s application for a stay on proceedings.
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