Ranchi: An Enforcement Directorate team has seized diamonds worth Rs 2.69 crore from two jewellery stores in the state capital, one of them being a direct outlet of Gitanjali Gems, which is involved in the Rs 11,400-crore PNB fraud orchestrated by jewel czar Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
Nakshatra, the Gitanjali Gems store at Nucleus Mall on Circular Road in Lalpur, was raided on Sunday evening followed by Kuldip Sons Jewellers, a dealer of the gems company, at GEL Church Complex on Main Road. The crackdown, which spilled onto Monday morning, yielded diamonds worth Rs 1.77 crore and Rs 92 lakh, respectively. The seized items were deposited at PNB.
Sources in ED said they had stumbled upon around a dozen bank accounts of these jewellery stores that were being examined. They did not rule out the possibility of more raids in Jharkhand in connection with the NiMo scam.
"We are targeting outlets being run by Gitanjali Gems directly or in franchisee mode or on credit consignment basis," said an ED official.
While Nakshatra is directly owned by Gitanjali Gems and sells other brands of the company like Gili and Nirvana, Kuldip Sons is a dealer that received stocks on credit and paid back from profit.
Owner of Kuldip Sons Ashok Gupta told this newspaper that he had been doing business with Gitanjali Gems for a decade, but fortunately wasn't directly affected by the raids. "Whatever the ED seized, belongs to the company in question. I haven't lost anything," he said.
For 10 years, Kuldip Sons has had a profit percentage agreement with Choksi's gems company.
"Whenever we received any consignment purely on credit, we conducted quality test. The profit earned from selling these jewellery was divided. I have a transparent business and have submitted all related documents to the ED," Gupta added.
Another city jeweller, who once sold products of Gitanjali Gems, said the consignment mode was usually a safe practice. "The company gives you its products on credit for a certain period of time such as three months or six months. After the credit period expires, unsold products are returned," he said.
How the credit mode was different from the franchisee mode, the jeweller explained that in the latter case, a store couldn't sell products of any other company.
"However, in both cases, no government agency can seize items for which a store has already made payments to the company," he said.
Dhanbad jeweller Harishankar Agrawal, whose shop at Bank More was raided by ED on Saturday along with three others, had obtained a franchisee of Gitanjali Gems in 2014. He has claimed losses to the tune of Rs 50 lakh while the ED confirmed seizure of jewellery worth Rs 86 lakh from his shop.
"The company (Gitanjali Gems) owes me Rs 50 lakh for the past six months. I had been asking for the money or the equivalent amount in products. I never imagined a scam was brewing. I am a victim," Agrawal said.
