Income Tax department says Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi files not destroyed in Mumbai fire
Nirav Modi- Mehul Choksi
The fire broke out in the Income Tax office in South Mumbai on Friday. News reports had said the Modi, Choksi files had been in the office's premises at the time
The Income Tax department on Sunday refuted reports which stated that the documents related to the investigation of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi were ruined in the Scindia House fire.
"News reports appearing in some sections of media alleging that records/documents relating to investigation of Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi have been destroyed in the Scindia House fire in IT Office, Mumbai are completely false & misdirected," they tweeted on Sunday.
Earlier, media reports quoted sources in the Income Tax department saying the files pertaining to Modi and Choksi, along with some documents relating to the Essar group, were also in the office premises during the fire.
The lost files pertained to cases that were either being investigated for fraud or were part of bankruptcy proceedings.
The fire broke out in the Income Tax office in South Mumbai on Friday, but no casualties were reported
The blaze started on the third floor of the I-T office located in multi-storeyed Scindia House.
No injuries were reported, but one person trapped on the second floor of the commercial building was rescued by firefighters.
Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year following a complaint by Punjab National Bank, India's second largest public sector bank, that they allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
Both Nirav Modi and Choksi are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them.