Pune: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at Nakshatra and Gitanjali brand counters in Pune and Kolhapur. The raids are continuing for the past three days, confirms senior officials of ED, Mumbai. The raid was conducted at the Nakshatra brand store at a mall in Aundh.

On Sunday, ED conducted searches at over 45 more locations in 15 cities across India in connection with the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, an official said. 

The agency raided 10 places in Bengaluru, seven in Delhi, five each in Kolkata and Mumbai, four each in Chandigarh and Hyderabad, three each in Patna and Lucknow, two in Ahmedabad and one each in Chennai and Guwahati. 

It also conducted raids in Goa, Jaipur, Srinagar and Jalandhar cities, the official said.

The ED on Friday and Saturday also conducted raids at 35 and 21 locations across India respectively in connection with the fraud involving around Rs 11,300 crore and has seized diamonds, gold and jewellery worth Rs 5,674 crore. 

The ED on Thursday also registered an FIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and conducted raids after the surfacing of the alleged fraud by billionaire diamond trader Nirav Modi and his Mumbai-based firms – Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.

Earlier, CBI registered a case against the officials of Punjab National Bank, Nirav Modi and his uncle and business partner, Mehul Choksi, for allegedly committing a Rs 280-crore fraud in 2017 and a fresh case has been registered recently for them being a part of the Rs 11,400 crore scam.