NCLT Relieves Two PNB Officers In Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi Fraud Case, Vacates Property Attachment

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has granted relief to two Punjab National Bank employees, Prafull Sawant and Becchu Tiwari, whose properties were attached in 2019 after they were named as accused in the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi fraud case. In orders passed on September 24, the tribunal held that the case against them relied primarily on circumstantial inferences without concrete evidence of their involvement.

The tribunal noted that merely being employees of the creditor bank was insufficient to establish liability. It observed that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had not placed any incriminating evidence on record, and PNB's internal inquiry found no involvement by either officer in perpetrating the fraud. The tribunal directed vacation of the property attachments.