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Punjab National Bank's scam-hit branch in Mumbai now brews organic coffee
The Brady House branch of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in Mumbai, infamous for a multi-million dollar scam involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, has been turned into a cosy cafe.
Patrons sit on comfy chairs and plush sofas, sipping steaming cups of organic coffee with light music playing in the background on the premises, a stark contrast to the chaos that erupted after the duo defrauded the bank of more than Rs 13,000 crore.
The premises in the Brady House building in the Fort area of south Mumbai were once at the centre of one of the biggest financial scams to rock the country.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi allegedly siphoned off over Rs 13,000 crore of public money from the PNB using LoUs and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) by bribing officials of the bank's Brady House branch between March 2011 and November 2017.
With Choksi's arrest in Belgium two weeks ago, the Brady House is again in the spotlight, but the operations of this branch were shifted to PNB House at Sir P M Road in Fort a few years ago.
The scam came to light in January 2018 when the PNB submitted a fraud report to the Reserve Bank of India and lodged a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Choksi and Modi had fled the country before that, and the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have probed into the scam.
In March 2019, Modi was arrested in London on an extradition warrant based on the CBI and ED's charges against him and has been languishing in prison since.
The Belgian Federal Police Service arrested Choksi on April 12 based on the extradition request by the Indian agencies.
However, although various developments related to the PNB scam have been underway, the happenings have not had any bearing on Brady House, which has been transformed into a posh cafe.
The bank shifted the Brady House branch's operations to PNB House and vacated the place, which was rented out.
The place has now become a popular haunt for business meetings and chats over coffee.
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