Bid for Nirav Modi’s luxury cars from ₹2.38 lakh to ₹1.33 crore

Thirteen cars, most of them high-end models, were seized by the ED after it charged Nirav Modi with money-laundering in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Luxury cars like the Rolls Royce Ghost and Porsche Panamera belonging to diamantaire Nirav Modi, but recently seized by Enforcement Directorate (ED), will go under the hammer at prices starting at ₹1.33 crore and ₹54.60 lakh respectively. The prices were revealed in a catalogue released by the ED.

Bid for Nirav Modi’s luxury cars from ₹2.38 lakh to ₹1.33 crore. Photo By Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint (Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint)

The ED will hold an e-auction on April 25.

Thirteen cars, most of them high-end models, were seized by the ED after it charged Nirav Modi with money-laundering in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. Some of these have special VIP numbers. The starting price for the vehicles were decided based on their age and amount of usage.

For instance, the Rolls Royce Ghost, a British full-size luxury car, has been driven 24,439km and has a vehicle registration number MH-01-AS-8. It was registered nine years ago, in 2010. The Porsche Panamera, driven 30,326km, with the number MH-01-AT-5 , was also registered in 2010. The other cars in the catalogue include a Mercedes Benz GL 350 with a starting price of ₹37.80 lakh, Mercedes Benz CLS 350 costing ₹14 lakh; two Honda Brios, one starting at ₹2.38 lakh and the other at ₹2.66 lakh; a Toyota Innova 2.5 ( ₹8.75 lakh), Honda CR-V ( ₹10.15 lakh), a Toyota Fortuner 3.0L ( ₹9.10 lakh), Skoda Superb Elegance ( ₹5.25 lakh), Toyota (E4) Corolla Altis 1.8 G ( ₹3.50 lakh), BMW X1 ( ₹9.80 lakh) and Toyota Innova Crysta (Rs10.50 lakh).

Three of these vehicles have the registration number ‘8’, a special number that would cost ₹50,000.

“These are starting or base prices, which means bidders cannot quote less than that for the models. Prospective bidders will have to pay a pre-bid earnest money deposit amount to qualify for the bidding process,” said an officer close to the development, requesting anonymity. “The condition of the cars will play an role in the bidding process.”

The contract for the e-auction was given to Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC), a state-owned e-commerce company. Bidders can inspect vehicles from April 21 to April 23 but they are not allowed test-drives. Some of these high-end vehicles are parked at the Samudra Mahal premises in Worli, where Nirav Modi lived before leaving India in 2018.

ED and income tax officials had raided Samudra Mahal, and seized the cars, as well as several paintings that included works by MF Hussain and Amrita Shergil . Some of these had been kept in a climate-controlled hall.

In March, the I-T department sold these paintings at a similar auction for ₹54.84 crore.

Nirav Modi is currently lodged in UK’s Wandsworth jail. He has been denied bail twice by the Westminster Magistrates Court, after the prosecution pointed out that he could flee the UK if released, influence witnesses and destroy evidence. The next hearing is on April 26.