Summary:
MUMBAI: A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday allowed for an auction of a high valued art collection of Nirav Modi , the absconding diamantaire. The collection boasts a Rs 4 crore Raja Ravi Varma masterpiece titled ‘The maharajah of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming Richard Grenville in 1880’. Two of these accounts have just Rs 5,000 and Rs 90,000, respectively, says the PNB application to the DRT.The assets list submitted by PNB had included 125 paintings, which art collectors would be ready to fight over. The ED had recently attached properties belonging to Modi, valued at Rs 147 crore, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in its ongoing investigation into the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case which has him as a main accused. Reports say he has been arrested on Wednesday in UK.Special ED counsel H S Venegaonkar informed special PMLA court Judge Salman Azmi that Income Tax department may be allowed to proceed with the auction of Modi’s art collection which had been attached recently by the agency but said the proceeds be deposited in court.The court accepted his submission..