Choksi police verification report: Probe ordered

Under fire from various quarters for its laxity that led to the grant of passport to Mehul Choksi by the Antigua and Barbuda Government, the Mumbai police on Saturday ordered an inquiry into the issuance of Police Verification Report (PVR) which the fugitive jeweller and Punjab National Bank (PNB) accused used to get the Citizenship of the West Indian State.

Left red-faced after a statement issued by Antigua’s Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) that it based its decision to grant citizenship to Choksi on the PVR received from the Mumbai-based External Affairs Regional Passport Office, the city police announced that an inquiry had been ordered into the issuance of PVR to the fugitive jeweller. “An enquiry has been ordered in the matter of issuance of Police Verification Report,” the Mumbai police said in a statement issued here.   

Curiously enough, while ordering an inquiry into the Choksi PVR lapse, the Mumbai police gave a new twist to the PVR controversy by indirectly shifting the onus on the External Affairs Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, which it stated had issued an Indian Passport (no Z3396732) valid from September 10, 2015 to September 9, 2025 under tatkal category without PVR.    

This -- together with the latest admission by the Mumbai police that had not submitted a proper PVR in the name of fugitive jeweller to the External Affairs External Affairs Regional Passport Office, Mumbai -- in essence means that no proper police verification of Choksi was done either at the time of issuance of passport to now fugitive jeweller in September 2015 or March 16, 2017 when Mumbai RPO issued a PVR to the Antigua and Barbuda government for grant of citizenship to Choksi.

On Friday, The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that the police clearance certificate (PCC) was issued on the basis of a clear police verification report (PVR) available on his passport. "All passport issuing authorities can issue a PCC if there is a clear PVR in the system," Kumar said.

"In case there is no PVR, then a fresh PVR is obtained prior to issuance of a PCC.... As the PVR of Mehul Choksi was clear in the system at the time of issuance of PCC, the process followed by the Passport Office, Mumbai, was as per extant instructions, Kumar had stated.

However, a statement issued by the Mumbai police has brought new facts to the fore. Among other things, the statement read thus: “Mr Choksi was issued an Indian passport (no. 23396732) on 10/9/2015 valid till 09/09/2025. The above passport was issued under ‘Tatkal’ category. As ‘No Police Verification’ required status was generated by the Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, no Police Verification Report (PVR) was generated from the Mumbai Police”.  This means there was no clear PVR on Choksi’s passport.

Explaining lapses in its own system lapses at its end, Mumbai police went on to state: “On 24/02/2017, Choksi applied for getting Police Clearance Certificate to the RPO, Mumbai. On 24/02/2017, Personal Particular Form was downloaded by the Malabar Hill police station for police verification.

“On 10/3/2017, the Malabar Hill police station submitted a “clear report”, ie, no criminal antecedents against Choski after checking the Criminal Antecedents and Information System (CAIS) used in the Mumbai Police commissionerate for checking the criminal record of an applicant under its jurisdiction.

“The system will only reflect the applicant’s name if he has been arrested in any offence On 14/03/ 2017, the Passport Branch, Special Branch-II, CID, Mumbai, forwarded the report to the RPO, Mumbai,” the statement said

The Mumbai police went onto add that as part of the inquiry, they were also examining their internal processes involved in the criminal antecedents’ verification process to improve the existing system.

Official sources said that the Mumbai police top brass ordered an inquiry into the Choksi PVR lapse, after Maharashtra chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took serious cognisance of the faux pas and as an apparent damage control measure directed Mumbai police chief Subodh Kumar Jaiswal to go into the circumstances leading to the issuance of PVR.

Fifty-nine-year-old Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Group, a retail jewellery company with 4,000 stores in India and his nephew Nirav Modi, are wanted by the authorities in the PNB fraud case.

It may be recalled that Choksi had left India on January 4, 2018, from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. An FIR was registered against him on 31 January, 2018. Subsequently, on 23 February, 2018, his passport was revoked by RPO, Mumbai.

In a press statement issued earlier this week, Antigua’s Citizenship by Investment Unit or CIU said Choksi’s application was received by the CIU in May 2017 with necessary documentary requirements, including a police clearance certificate, as required by Section 5 (2) (b) of the Antigua and Barbuda Citizenship by Investment Act 2013.

“The said police clearance certificate from the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, certified that there was no adverse information against Mr Mehul Chinubbhai Choksi which would render him ineligible for grant of travel facilities including visa for Antigua and Barbuda,” it said.

“As with all applications submitted to the CIU, Choksi’s application was subjected to stringent background checks which included open source internet checks, Thompson Reuters World-Check, queries of various sanctions lists, engagement with regional and international intelligence agencies to include Interpol as well as contracted third party due diligence providers. It was only after the results of all of these checks had been received and assessed that a final decision was taken on the application. In no instance was any derogatory information disclosed on the applicant,” the statement said.