Nirav Modi's Rs 100-cr bungalow in Alibaug demolished with explosives

Mumbai, Mar 08: PNB scam's main accused Nirav Modi's sea facing luxury mansion worth of 100 crore was demolished with a huge quantity of explosives on Friday, a district administration officer said.

Authorities in Raigad District in Maharashtra used explosives to demolish fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's bungalow in Alibaug. Controlled blasts were carried out during the demolition process undertaken by the office of District Collector of Raigad.

Nirav Modi is wanted for defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore. Modi's uncle Mehul Choksi is wanted as well. Both of them have fled the country.

On February 1, the Maharashtra Government told Bombay High Court that the authorities will require two weeks to bring down the structure.

The first stage of demolition started on January 25, after which the district administration found that demolishing the 30,000-sq ft structure will take longer if done manually using earth movers and would be a costly affair. Excavators were used to drill into the thick concrete pillars of the bungalow to make space for fixing the detonators. A technical team was then called in to install the explosives.

The bungalow was built partly as a ground-plus-one structure and has a driveway, high metal fencing and a huge security gate. It includes a swimming pool, resort-like slides and expensive fittings. Situated at Kihim beach, over 90 km from Mumbai, it was declared illegal along with 58 other structures that flouted all environmental norms.