India seizes jeweler's farmhouse, power plant

Indian authorities said on Saturday they seized a farmhouse, a solar power plant and land belonging to billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi, at the center of an alleged $1.8 billion fraud against Punjab National Bank that has shaken confidence in state lenders.

Modi, who had a chain of boutique stores from New York to Beijing, and his uncle Mehul Choksi are both accused of perpetrating the biggest loan fraud in Indian banking history and are both out of the country. India's Enforcement Directorate, which fights financial crimes, said on Twitter it had taken possession of 21 properties belonging to Modi worth 5.24 billion rupees ($81 million) in the latest swoop in Mumbai and Pune, another city in western India.

-Reuters, Mumbai