Nirav Modi’s luxury cars re-auctioned, 5 fetch Rs 2.9 crore

MUMBAI: Government-owned Metal Scrap Trading Corporation (MSTC) on Tuesday re-auctioned seven confiscated luxury cars belonging to fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi. Five cars found buyers, and the sale collectively raised Rs 2.9 crore.

MSTC had earlier auctioned 13 cars belonging to Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi on April 25 through its website. While 12 cars found buyers at that auction, four of these vehicles, including a Mercedes SUV, were again put up for bids on Tuesday after the buyers failed to deposit the balance payment within the stipulated deadline.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had confiscated the vehicles, believed that bids received for a Rolls Royce Ghost and a Porsche Panamera at the previous auction were below its expectations and the cars again went under the hammer, this time with a higher base price.


“We were expecting higher bids in some cases. A few of the parties didn’t … make the payment within the deadline,” Archana Salaye, assistant director of ED, told ET over the phone.

The Rolls Royce was auctioned for Rs 1.7 crore while the Porsche went for Rs 60.25 lakh. The other three cars sold included the Mercedes SUV, a Toyota Innova and a Honda Brio.

A Skoda Superb, which was sold at the last auction but the bidder for which failed to pay on time, remained unsold during Tuesday’s auction. A Toyota Corolla, which had remained unsold during the previous auction, didn’t attract any bids this time either.

Successful bidders will have to make the payment, less the safety deposit, within 15 days of ED approving the deal.

Earlier, auctioning of seized paintings belonging to Modi had fetched the I-T department more than Rs 54 crore.

Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are accused in the Rs 13,570-crore fraud involving Punjab National Bank. Last week, a UK court denied bail for the fourth time to Modi, who is lodged in a London prison. Choksi is believed to be staying in the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda.