Aiming to recover some of the dues that Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi owe to banks, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted an online auction of their cars. Authorization for the auction was provide to ED by a special court in Mumbai earlier this month.
Cars that were auctioned included Rolls-Royce Ghost, Mercedes-Benz 4Matic GL 350 CDI, Porsche Panamera, Mercedes-Benz CLS 350, Toyota Fortuner, Honda CR-V, Toyota Innova and Honda Brio. Nirav Modi’s most prized possession was Rolls-Royce Ghost, which is priced at Rs 4.48 crore.
In the online auction, the base price was Rs 1.33 crore and the wining bid was Rs 10k more, i.e. Rs Rs 1,33,10,000. Rolls-Royce Ghost uses the same 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12 engine as the Phantom. It has a top speed of 250 kmph and can reach 0 to 100 in just 4.8 seconds.
Another top car with Nirav Modi was Porsche Panamera, which can be purchased for Rs 2.14 crore. A used Porsche Panamera can cost anywhere between Rs 40 to 90 lakh. At the auction, Nirav’s Porsche Panamera was sold for Rs 54.6 lakh. The car gets its power from a 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine and it can reach 0 to 100 kmph in 6.6 seconds. Top speed is 250 kmph.
Nirav’s Mercedes-Benz 4Matic GL 350 CDI was auctioned for Rs 53.76 lakh, which is around Rs 15 lakh more than ED’s base price of Rs 37.8 lakh. Last retail price of the car was Rs 77.5 lakh whereas a used one could be purchased in the range of Rs 37 to 60 lakh.
Nirav’s other cars that were auctioned included Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 for Rs 16 lakh and Honda CR-V for Rs 10.26 lakh. Mehul Choksi’s BMW X1 went for Rs 11.75 lakh and Toyota Innova Crysta for Rs 18.06 lakh. Proceeds from sale of cars will be deposited in court and transferred as fixed deposit in a nationalized bank. Earlier, Rs 54.84 crore were collected when paintings owned by Nirav Modi were auctioned by Income Tax Department.