Surat: The employees of diamond merchant Nirav Modi’s firms, located in the special economic zone (SEZ) in Surat , staged a protest on Friday, demanding the payment of their salaries.
The firms were unable to pay them after their bank accounts were frozen by Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the alleged Rs11,400 PNB fraud.
“Some 700 employees of two of Nirav Modi’s firms in the SEZ have lost their jobs as the management has locked the units and asked us to search for jobs elsewhere. We are in a big trouble. We have not been given any assurance about the payment of our outstanding salaries,” said Deepak Ingle, an employee.
A week ago, ED officials had conducted raids at Firestar Diamond International Pvt. Ltd and Firestar International Pvt. Ltd and seized a stock worth over Rs900 crore. Both these units were part of Nirav Modi’s empire, the ED officials had said.
“The management has told us they cannot pay the outstanding salaries for January and February as all the bank accounts have been frozen by the ED and the CBI. We want the government to think about us and un-freeze at least one account to facilitate the payment of our salaries,” Ingle said.
