Mumbai: The CBI on Wednesday submitted a reply strongly opposing the discharge plea filed by Manoj Kharat, former single-window operator, accused in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case in which fugitive economic offender Nirav Modi is the main accused. In its reply, the CBI submitted that Kharat knew about the illegalities. Kharat is out on bail. The plea will come up for hearing on June 19.The CBI had alleged that Gokulnath Shetty, retired deputy manager, and Kharat, single-window operator, at PNB’s Brady House branch, Mumbai, issued several letters of undertaking (LOUs). The scheme allegedly involved bypassing all standard banking protocols—including the requirement for sanctioned limits, cash margins, and proper documentation—while deliberately keeping transactions out of the bank’s core banking system (CBS) to avoid detection. It was alleged that these were also done on behalf of Nirav Modi-owned Diamond RUS, Stellar Diamond and Solar Export. It is further alleged that further investigation revealed a significantly larger fraud where PNB informed the CBI on Feb 13, 2018, that Shetty, in conspiracy with others, had issued 150 fraudulent LOUs totalling approximately Rs 6,498 crore, before his retirement in 2017, causing wrongful loss to PNB. The investigation ultimately uncovered that between 2011 and 2017, 1214 LOUs amounting to approximately Rs 23,780 crore were fraudulently issued by bank officials. However, the discharge plea submitted by Asit Chaware said that Gokulnath Shetty was responsible for the entry in SWIFT/CBS, and that Kharat had no knowledge about his ill practices. The plea also said that Kharat was not a beneficiary in the alleged offence and that not a single penny has been received by him. “That present accused has merely acted as a clerk under the complete supervision of dy manager… had typed as maker of SWIFT messages under the guidance of his dy manager and unnecessarily he has been made a scapegoat in this alleged offence,” his plea said. It was also submitted that the practice of issuing LOU’s without limit or 100% margin was prevailing in the Brady House Branch even before 2011, even before his appointment in 2014.
