Nirav Modi's Rolls Royce Ghost, that once carried his dogs around town, goes under the hammer

Buy one to get to know its inside story — as officials forbid internal checks of the 13 cars that are going under the hammer today.

The Rolls Royce Ghost, the most expensive of Nirav Modi’s cars on auction, seems like it has stopped mid-motion — the steering wheel still wrapped in plastic and the driver’s seat pushed behind.

The story goes that in better times, this very silver-coloured Rolls, costing over Rs 5 crore at the time, was used to ferry around the diamantaire’s three lap dogs.


Today, the car is parked in its spot at the south Mumbai apartment building where the jeweller owned a duplex home. It hasn’t been driven around for more than a year and is now an object on display, examined closely by potential buyers.

Shifting gears
It is one of Modi’s 13 cars that were seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the start of 2018, after the jeweller was accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of Rs 14,000 crore. These vehicles are up for grabs in an online auction today, being conducted by Metal Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC). The auction comes about a month after 68 artworks belonging to a shell company owned by Modi went under the hammer.

The cars are spread out over three locations in Mumbai. They were made available to interested parties for inspection over April 21, 22 and 23. However, the bulk of the collection (nine) was at Samudra Mahal, an upscale residential tower in Worli, Mumbai.

Hitting the brakes
The infamous resident may have left the tower. But the society continued to look after the cars, giving them a regular wash, shared the guard on duty. “They [the officials] only came over two days back [ahead of the inspection dates], cleaned the cars and took off the covers,” said another guard. He wasn’t sure if “they” were ED or MSTC.

A common complaint that one heard from the guards as well as those inspecting the vehicle was the denial to open the cars. “We don’t have the keys,” one of the guards said. “They [the authorities] should have had someone here to show people around.”

An ED official involved with the auction shared that this was a conscious choice. “It’s too risky to allow each potential buyer to poke around inside the car. They will have to buy it on an as-is basis,” the official said. At the end of the inspection tour, the guard drove home his point: “They were very good people. Sir, the kids, bhabhi [Modi’s wife]. But when the [ED] officials came last year, we knew it was all over.”