PNB Eyes Attaching Assets Of Nirav Modi Including Paintings Worth Crores

¡®The maharajah of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming Richard Grenville in 1880,¡¯ an artwork by celebrated Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma, which is estimated to be worth Rs 4 crores, is among 125 paintings in the possession of fugitive dimondier Nirav Modi, which the Punjab National Bank (PNB) is planning to attach as part of its efforts to recover the Rs 7,000 crore which he owes the bank.

The oil painting by Varma depicts the welcoming party at Trivandrum, capital of Travancore for the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Temple-Grenville, who was Governor-General of Madras from 1875 to 1880.

Other artworks in the possession of Modi include those of V S Gaitonde, M F Husain, K K Hebbar, Anjolie Ela Menon, Vishwanath Nageshkar, Nandalal Bose and Vivan Sundaram.

AFP

Other than the art collection the bank is also eying to attach Modi's other known assets like flats in Pune, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, a motorboat, and Rs 5.5 crore worth of jewellery, a cash deposit of Rs 36 lakh in four PNB accounts.

BCCL

PNB has pegged the value of Modi's assets at Rs 3,402 crore before the debt recovery tribunal (DRT) to seek attachment orders.

Modi and his business associates including uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of obtaining fraudulent LoU from PNB to the tune of Rs 7,000 crores in the name of his companies.

Modi flew out of India in January before the bank registered a case against him with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).