CBI books ex-PNB Deputy Manager in disproportionate assets case

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The CBI on Friday said that it has registered a case of disproportionate assets against Gokulnath Shetty, the former Punjab National Bank Deputy Manager who allegedly facilitated the Rs 13,500 crore scam involving fugitive diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

A senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS: "The agency has registered the case against Shetty and his wife Ashalata, who is a clerk in Indian Bank in Mumbai on Thursday night."

The couple were booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The official said that Shetty and his wife had amassed huge moveable and immoveable properties between April 1, 2011 to May 31, 2017.

In its FIR, the CBI alleged that the couple had acquired disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 2.63 crore.

It also alleged that Ashalata Shetty was found to "actively assist her husband in the concealment and acquisition of assets raised from ill-gotten wealth and thereby abetted the offence of possession of disproportionate assets by a public servant".

Gokulnath Shetty was arrested in the multi-crore fraud for allegedly issuing Letters of Undertaking (LOUs). He is still lodged in a Mumbai jail.

The CBI had also filed a separate case against him on March 15 for issuing similar LOUs worth Rs 9.09 crore.

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