On 22 February, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had frozen shares, deposits and luxury cars worth over Rs 100 crore of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with the money laundering probe against them in the Rs 11,300-crore alleged Punjab National Bank fraud.
Now the ED has got a clearance to auction off Nirav Modi’s cars which range from a Rs 1.38 crore Rolls Royce Ghost to a Honda Brio worth as low as Rs 2.38 lakhs.
A total of thirteen cars will be auctioned via a public platform and even you can buy these vehicles by bidding online.
The ED is looking to recover an amount close to almost Rs 12,500 crores from Modi, who took loans from Punjab National Bank (PNB) through illegal means.
These vehicles are scheduled to be auctioned on 25 April through the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC), a state-owned e-commerce company which was awarded the contract of auctioning these vehicles.
All of these vehicles carry a minimum base price and the bidding will start from that price.
Here’s a list of all the cars that will be auctioned:
People who want to bid will be able to do so via the MTSC website where there will have to register before-hand. All the cars will be available for inspection between 21 April and 23 April, but won't be available for test drives.
It is not known where the cars currently are, but they are expected to be at the Samudra Mahal premises in Worli, where Nirav Modi stayed till 2018.
All of the people who are participating in the bidding will be asked to deposit a pre-bid amount. The unsuccessful bidders will be able to get their bid amount refunded from the MTSC after the whole bid process is finished.
The Enforcement Directorate raided a lot of Nirav Modi-owned premises to seize these vehicles and valuables.
Earlier, a painting owned by Nirav Modi was auctioned off in a similar manner which was sold for Rs 54.84 crore.
Nirav Modi is currently in the UK’s Wandsworth jail and has been denied bail twice by the Westminster Magistrates Court. The next hearing is on 26 April .
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