The luxury cars left behind by absconding debtor Nirav Modi have been covered by a lot of auto websites in the past. Now the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has decided to auction these cars that once were owned by fugitive Nirav Modi, what is even better is that the auction will be held online and people from all over the country can bid on them, given they have valid credentials.
Among the vehicles seized by the Enforcement Directorate in the process of attaching Nirav Modi’s properties there are very expensive cars such as Rolls Royce Ghost, Porsche Panamera, Mercedes-Benz CLS sedan, Mercedes-Benz GLS 350 CDI SUV, while the relatively common vehicles include Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Innova, 3 Honda CR-Vs and others. Recently it was the income tax department that had recovered Rs. 54.84 after the paintings of the said fugitive were auctioned. The auction for these cars will take place on April 18 and as already mentioned this will be an online auction in order to keep the auction process free of problems.
Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC) will organize the auction of 13 cars that were previously owned by absconding Nirav Modi, and Enforcement Directorate already is in possession of these cars. MSTC is a public sector e-com entity and one can register on the said entity’s website in order to take part in the online auction of said 13 cars.
The central agency will allow willing bidders to only conduct a physical inspection of the car and no test drives will be allowed as such. The willing bidders can inspect all the 13 cars that will be put up for auction at one location itself. Remaining relevant details of the cars such as make year, photos, and model names etc. will be shortly put up on the MSTC’s official website. After successfully bidding for a car, the bidder will have a limited time under which payment will have to made and other formalities will have to be completed.
An unnamed official from ED had the following to say about the upcoming online auction,
“We will put out public notices of the auction likely to be conducted on April 18. By this week, we will also share the details of the cars with MSTC. We are in the process of finalising a venue where we could conduct this inspection.”
It must be noted that the central agency had recently seized another second Rolls Royce car that belonged to Nirav Modi in February when the agency gathered the knowledge of the fact that the said car was with a service center. Whether the agency puts up even this Rolls Royce for auction remains unclear as of now. Another fugitive debtor Vijay Mallya’s cars were also sold off in a similar auction.
Nirav Modi had earlier fled to the United Kingdom where a local court sentenced him to jail time in Wandsworth jail in the UK. The extradition of Nirav Modi is awaited but the auction of cars will take place on April 18 and one can register on MSTC’s website in order to place the bids.