ED officials arrest Choksi's associate from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport

An executive of a firm linked to fugitive Mehul Choksi was arrested from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport here by ED officials under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, officials said Tuesday.

Deepak Kulkarni was arrested Monday night in connection with the money-laundering probe in the USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case when he landed there from Hong Kong, they said.

He was produced before a city court on Tuesday and Metropolitan Magistrate, 3rd Court, Calcutta, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharyya granted three-day transit sought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take him to Mumbai, where the case was registered.

Kulkarni is allegedly linked to the overseas businesses of Choksi, one of the main accused in the case, and the ED had notified a lookout circular against him, the officials said.

Kulkarni was a director in a Hong Kong-based "dummy" firm linked to Choksi and the ED had named him in a charge-sheet filed against the fugitive jeweller earlier this year.

A Mumbai court had also issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

Choksi, his nephew and diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year, following a complaint from PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of about Rs 14,000 crore in connivance with some PNB employees.

Both Choksi and Modi are absconding since the case was registered by the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

(With inputs from agencies.)