The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Deepak Kulkarni, an executive of a firm linked to Punjab National Bank scam accused Mehul Choksi, at the Kolkata airport, PTI reported. The investigating agency’s personnel made the arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act soon after Kulkarni arrived from Hong Kong.
Security agencies had received intelligence inputs about Kulkarni’s scheduled arrival in the country, The Telegraph reported. He was reportedly running Choksi’s Hong Kong operations.
The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation had issued a lookout circular against Kulkarni earlier this year. The directorate had also named him in its chargesheet in the case.
Unidentified officials told PTI that they will try to secure a transit remand to take Kulkarni to Mumbai, where the case was registered.
Choksi fled India earlier this year and was later granted citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda.
The scam
The fraud came to light in February when the Punjab National Bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it had detected “fraudulent and unauthorised transactions” worth Rs 11,380 crore at a branch in South Mumbai. A few officials of the public sector bank had allegedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking to fugitive businessman Nirav Modi’s companies. Modi had already fled the country. The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are investigating the matter.
The bank later revised the figure to Rs 12,703 crore and eventually to around Rs 13,645 crore.
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