Protesting farmers from Khandala village In Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district have ‘reclaimed‘ over a hundred acres of Nirav Modi’s land which they accuse the absconding businessman of acquiring at less than prevailing rates. The farmers, who arrived in bullock carts at the tract of land, said that they will soon start cultivation on the 125 acres of land.
Karbhari Gawli, a lawyer and activist who was part of Saturday’s protest, told PTI, “The land was acquired from farmers at around Rs 15,000 per acre, whereas the government rate for land compensation in the area is around Rs 20 lakh per acre now.” They ploughed a small part of the land as a symbolic gesture of reclaiming the land. According to a farmer activist, the land is among the properties attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its probe against the disgraced businessman who is accused of committing a fraud of over 11,000 crores.
Times Now has reported that the crackdown on Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi has intensified. According to the channel, the attached land can be reclaimed by the previous owner under certain conditions after the attachment of properties by the ED has been ratified by an independent adjudicator. The ED is working in haste towards the liquidation assets so that money can be recovered.
Crackdown on Nirav Modi intensifies. ED seizes 100 acres of land belonging to Nirav Modi. @NikunjGargN with more details. pic.twitter.com/KWCBgcsvbJ
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 18, 2018
The Punjab National Bank had last month blown the lid off a fraud of over 11,000 crores of rupees in one of its branches involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Since then, the ED has been conducting a series of raids across the country and has already seized many of their properties worth thousands of crores.
