"Passport Suspended, Impossible For Me To Return," Mehul Choksi Tells CBI

New Delhi:  With his passport suspended, jeweller Mehul Choksi, the main accused of a fraud of nearly $2 billion against Punjab National Bank, told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a letter that it was "impossible" for him to return to India. He even demanded to know why his passport was suspended.

"It is impossible for me to travel back to India. I wish to point out that the Regional Passport Office Mumbai has not given me any explanation as to why my passport has been suspended and as to how I am a security threat to India," Choksi said in the March 7 letter.

He also accused the investigating agencies of "acting with a pre-determined mind and interfering with the course of justice" and said the seizure of his assets, bank accounts and the shutting down of all his offices in India has caused prejudice against him.

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Choksi and his celebrity jeweller-turned-fugitive nephew Nirav Modi left India early in January. But Choksi now claims he was travelling "abroad for business" much before the probe agency filed an FIR against him.

Last month, when Nirav Modi, another central figure in the Rs 11,400-crore fraud, was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), it is understood, that the jeweller in an e-mail cited temporary suspension of his passport for his non-appearance.