The CBI on Wednesday filed a charge-sheet against diamantaire Mehul Choksi and his three companies — Gitanjali Gems, Gili India and Nakshtra Brand — for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) to the tune of ₹7,080.86 crore. Choksi was also the MD of Gitanjali Gems.

Also named in the charge-sheet are former PNB MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian, Executive Directors KV Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, General Manager of the bank’s International Banking Division Nehal Ahad, and six other PNB officials.

The accused have been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy against the bank and fraudulently issuing letters of undertaking (LoU) to overseas banks to obtain buyer’s credit.

Also, foreign letters of credit were issued in favour of the three companies controlled by Choksi without any sanctioned limit or cash margin and without making entries in PNB’s central banking system.

On Monday, the CBI had filed its first charge-sheet against Nirav Modi for defrauding PNB to the tune of ₹6,498.28 crore.

That charge-sheet, too, had named Ananthasubramanian, Rao, Sharan and Ahad.

Following the CBI move, the PNB board has divested Rao and Sharan of their functional responsibilities in the bank. The Allahabad Bank board, on Tuesday, removed Ananthasubramanian as MD & CEO.

The scam, which reportedly began in 2011, was detected in the third week of January this year, after which PNB officials reported it to the agencies concerned. The CBI registered the first FIR on January 31 against Nirav Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal and uncle Choksi along with others.

So far, 15 people have been arrested while Nirav Modi and Choksi are on the run.

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