Nirav Modi's son Rohin moves Bombay HC to stop March 6 auction of seized paintings

Mumbai: Fugitive diamond businessman Nirav Modi's son has approached Bombay High Court against the auction of rare paintings seized by the Enforcement Directorate claiming they belong to Rohin Trust, and not to his father.

The petition filed by Rohin Modi sought a direction to ED and auction house, Saffron Art, to not carry out the auction scheduled for March 6. The petition was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice BP Dharmadhikari and Justice NR Borkar. It was posted for hearing on Wednesday.

According to the petition, the paintings sought to be auctioned belong to Rohin Trust, whose beneficiary is Rohin Modi. Apart from the 15 paintings, several diamond watches, Hermes handbags and luxury cars such as Rolls Royce Ghost and Porsche Panamera S will be auctioned.

The paintings and other items were seized by ED from Nirav Modi's houses after the agency registered a money laundering case against him and his uncle Mehul Choksi for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank of Rs 13,600 crore.