Fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi’s repatriation process has been stayed by a Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, superior court for eastern Caribbean states including Commonwealth of Dominica, as his lawyers on Thursday contested that the wanted businessman cannot be sent to India as he is no longer a citizen of the country. India’s most wanted fugitive in connection with the Punjab National Bank loan fraud case, was captured from Dominica while trying to flee to Cuba from Antigua.
The next proceeding in the matter has been scheduled for Friday at 9 am local time.
Mehul Choksi’s legal team in Dominica had filed a petition after they were allegedly not given access to him, local media reported. They also claimed that marks of torture have been reported on his body.
Choksi’s lawyer Wayne Marsh told news agency ANI that he noticed that he was severely beaten, his eyes were swollen and he had several burnt marks on his body. He reported to me that he was abducted at Jolly Harbour in Antigua and brought to Dominica by persons whom he believed to be Indian and Antiguan police on a vessel he described to be about 60-70 feet in length, Marsh said.
Marsh also said that Choksi is an Antiguan citizen, not Indian. Heard Antiguan PM say that he instructed Dominican PM to send Choksi to India because should he be returned to Antigua, he would be entitled to constitutional protection.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne had requested Dominican PM Roosevelt Skerrit and law enforcement in Dominica to not return Choksi to Antigua where he enjoys legal and constitutional protection as a citizen, the news agency reported.
Choksi had gone missing in Antigua and Barbuda earlier this week after which the local police have launched a manhunt to trace him since May 23.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in India for allegedly siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank, using fake guarantees to secure overseas loans.