I-T authority orders seizure of Choksi’s assets

The income-tax adjudication authority has passed a confiscation order under the amended Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act on immovable properties spread over 100 acres (worth over £7 million) in Igatpuri that belonged to fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi. Such an order for immovable property is unheard of and sources in the I-T department could not recall a similar one in recent years. I-T officials will now be taking these 50 land parcels in their possession for auction. The act was amended in 2016 and the I-T department attached the Igatpuri properties in 2020.
Choksi is an absconding accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case and no one turned up to challenge the I-T action, which helped the authority to conclude the entire process in a record time of two years.
The land parcels were purchased in the name of Nashik Multi Services SEZ Ltd in Mundegaon Village in Igatpuri, Nashik district, and the payment was made through Choksi’s company Gitanjali Gems. The CBI and ED are investigating Choksi along with his firm for defrauding £620 million from PNB through fraudulent letter of undertaking. The directorate of income-tax (investigation), Mumbai wing, is investigating him for tax evasion and under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act.