Fire at Mumbai office won't affect probe against Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, says ED

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate sources said that investigations into cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and prominent politicians would proceed unhindered, despite the fire damage to their Ballard Estate office and records.

They clarified that relevant documents had been previously submitted to courts and other hearing forums, and also saved digitally from where these can be securely retrieved.

After the fire, the ED officials ascertained the damage in the office.

The fire broke out early on Sunday and raged on for nearly 10 hours in ED's zone-1 office in a privately owned building in south Mumbai's Ballard Estate, sparking fears that investigationrecords of some high-profile cases, including those involving fugitive businessmen Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi as well as politicians Chhagan Bhujbal and Anil Deshmukh.

The ED sources stated that while both physical and digital records of investigations were stored at the office, since most of the documents were digitised, the agency may be able to recover them.

ED has submitted in court the original investigation records of cases in which chargesheets have been filed, keep ing the copies with itself. The questioning of scheduled witnesses summoned by ED for statements at the office will be affected following the fire.

ED has offices on the fourth floor as well as on a portion of the first floor of the heritage building, Kaiser-I-Hind, which has more than four floors. The fire was confined to the fourth floor office, which housed the agency's additional director's office and investigation units. Both floors were shut owing to the late hours.