In what is being touted as Modi government's biggest ever crackdown against corruption, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched nationwide search operations on Tuesday spanning as many as 110 places across 19 states and Union Territories, said an IANS report, adding that the probe agency has registered around 30 separate cases relating to corruption, criminal misconduct and arms smuggling among others.

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The raids started early Tuesday morning in various cities including Delhi, Bharatpur, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Jammu, Srinagar, Pune, Jaipur, Goa, Raipur, Hyderabad, Madurai, Kolkata, Rourkela, Ranchi, Bokaro, Lucknow besides in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar, a senior agency official revealed. 

Last week, the CBI had carried out raids at over 50 places in 14 states and Union Territories, searching the premises of 13 companies and bank officials across the country for alleged bank frauds amounting to Rs 1,139 crore. The search and seizure was one of the biggest simultaneous, synchronised actions against bank loan defaulters in recent times.

Meanwhile, another fraud case, amounting to Rs 3,805.15 crore, has been reported at the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). Teh bank has last week stated that it had been defrauded by Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. (BPSL) to the tune of Rs 3,805.15 crore. 

In a regulatory filing on Saturday, the bank said, "On the basis of Forensic Audit Investigation findings and CBI filing FIR, on suo moto basis, against the Company and its Directors, alleging diversion of funds from banking system, a fraud of Rs 3805.15 core is being reported by Bank to RBI." 

Earlier in February 2018, the Rs 13,500-crore scam involving diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi had come to light at the PNB.