The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at Mumbai has issued directions for liquidation of Gitanjali Gems, a jewellery retailing company. Fugitive Indian businessman Mehul Choksi is the Managing Director of this company.
The order was passed by a coram of judicial member Kuldip Kumar Kareer and technical member Anil Raj Chellan on February 7.
NCLT further appointed Santanu T Ray as liquidator in the case.
Earlier on February 3, Choksi was issued a proclaimation notice by the Magistrate court in Mumbai in connection with a cheating case registered against him by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police in 2019.
A proclamation notice gives a person around 30 days to come forward and make their statements, failing which they are declared proclaimed offenders, and their assets are seized.
The EOW had registered a cheating case against Choksi in 2019 after a Mumbai-based company, Laxmi Infra Developers Ltd, filed a complaint with the Mumbai police. The company alleged that Choksi sold his real estate project to them 15 days before he fled the country.
The project was then attached as Mehul Choksi’s property obtained from illegitimate means by the investigators of the PNB scam.
The EOW had filed the application for the proclamation notice in October 2021 at the Esplanade Magistrate court. Later, the court had issued a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) against Choksi.
The process of issuing the proclamation notice began when Choksi, who was suspected to be living in Antigua, did not come forward despite the Non-Bailable Warrant.
Apart from the Mumbai police, the CBI had also sought to declare Mehul Choksi a proclaimed offender in October 2019. However, the plea is still pending a hearing in a special court.
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