New Delhi: The Antigua and Barbuda high court granted relief to Mehul Choksi, a businessman and an accused in the Rs 13000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, on April 14 and ruled that he cannot be removed from Antigua and Barbuda.
Choksi had filed a civil lawsuit arguing that there is an obligation on the part of the defendants, the Attorney General of Antigua and the Chief of Police, to carry out a thorough inquiry and that he has an arguable claim that he was subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, The Hindu reported.
He demanded an investigation into his claims that he was kidnapped in inhuman circumstances on or around May 23, 2021, and reportedly sought relief from the court and demanded a prompt judicial or a police probe into “the circumstances surrounding his forcible removal from Antigua and Barbuda”.
The High Court of the Caribbean country, while hearing Choksi’s plea, prohibited his removal from Antigua and Barbuda without the court’s approval, subject to an inter-party hearing and exhaustion of all legal remedies by Choksi.
Choksi claimed that he was abducted from Antigua and Barbuda and taken to Dominica forcibly in a boat on May 23, 2021, allegedly by officials of India’s spy agency Research and Analysis Wing. In 2018, when Choksi was named in the bank fraud case in which he, and his nephews Nirav Modi and Neeshal Deepak Modi, were accused of scamming Punjab National Bank of thousands of crores, he fled to Anitgua and Barbuda, his home country. But later, he was reported to be “missing” and was found in Dominica. He was arrested on May 26, 2021 in Dominica for allegedly making entering the country illegally. The authorities in Dominica discontinued proceedings against Mehul Choksi over his illegal entry into the island nation in May 2022.
In a television interview, Choksi had identified two people – Gurmit Singh and Gurjit Bhandal – who he claimed were RAW agents who had kidnapped him with the help of one Barbara Jarabica who he knew in Antigua and Barbuda. He alleged that both Singh and Bhandal took him to Dominica for interrogation but tortured him there. Later, the Indian authorities requested Dominica to hand Choksi over to them but were not successful. Currently, the Indian authorities want to extradite him from Antigua and Barbuda, where he is a citizen.
However, the Antigua and Barbuda High Court’s order on April 14, 2023 will come as a shot in Choksi’s arm. The High Court said that the Dominican police are obliged to probe Choksi’s claims that he was taken to Dominica against his will, and added that he can’t leave, or be removed, from Antigua and Barbuda until he exhausts all his legal remedies. The court went against the defendants’ claims that Choksi’s claims were “frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of the court’s process”.
Based on Choksi’s petition in Antigua and Barbuda, Interpol had also withdrawn its Red Notice against him, setting back the plans of Indian enforcement agencies to extradite the absconding diamantaire.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation, reacting to the development, said that it remains committed to getting a hold over all fugitives like Choksi. “Systematic steps have been initiated in close coordination with foreign law enforcement agencies for geo-locating and return of wanted criminals and economic offenders. In the last 15 months, over 30 wanted criminals have returned to India,” the CBI said.
The agency registered its first case against Choksi on February 15, 2018, and subsequently filed five more criminal cases against him for defrauding banks and other financial institutions.