Mumbai/New Delhi, Feb 22 (PTI) The ED on Thursday said it has frozen mutual funds and shares worth ₹ 94.52 crore of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with a money laundering probe against them in the ₹ 11,400-crore alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

It also seized nine high-end luxury cars of Modi as part of its investigation against him under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Officials of the agency said frozen mutual funds and shares worth ₹ 86.72 crore belong to Choksi and his group, and the rest are owned by the Modi group.

Choksi is Modi's uncle and promoter of the Gitanjali Gems group and other jewellery brands.

The central probe agency also seized nine costly cars of Modi, recovered by it during raids last week.

These include a Rolls Royce Ghost, a Mercedes Benz, a Porsche Panamera, three Honda variants, a Toyota Fortuner and an Innova.

Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of ₹ 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case. Both Modi and Choski are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them.

Asset seizure under PMLA preserves suspected proceeds of bank fraud while parallel criminal investigations continue. Investigators froze mutual fund holdings and shares of the implicated business groups and seized multiple high-end vehicles as enforcement measures under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, taken to preserve property potentially connected to proceeds of the alleged bank fraud while parallel criminal enquiries and registrations continue.