Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in the Rs 13,500 crore PNB scam and had gone missing for some days in Antigua and Barbuda has been traced in Dominica and been arrested by the local police there. Dominica is a small island nation in the Caribbean Sea.
The Antigua Police has contacted the police in Dominica to seek his custody. Mehul Choksi was traced in Dominica after a ‘yellow corner notice’ was issued by Interpol.
Sources say Interpol has informed the CBI that Mehul Choksi has been traced and arrested in Dominica. They added that he reached Dominica from Antigua and Barbuda through a boat.
Speaking to India Today TV, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said, “We have asked the Dominican government to detain him for entering their country illegally, to make him persona non grata and have him deported directly to India.”
Why is Mehul Choksi wanted?
Mehul Choksi had been staying in Antigua and Barbuda since January 2018. He and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) using letters of undertaking.
While Nirav Modi is in a London prison after being repeatedly denied bail and is contesting his extradition to India, Mehul Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018.
The scam came to light subsequently. Both are facing a CBI probe.
Process on to hand him over to Antigua Police has been started
The Dominican authorities have confirmed his presence in the country and he is in the custody. Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal speaking to WION said, “family is happy and relieved that finally whereabouts of Mehul Choksi are known. And efforts are being made to speak to him so that one can know a clearer picture that how he was taken to Dominica”
Dominica is near antigua and barbuda. He is expected to be sent back to Antigua soon. Remember speaking to WION on Tuesday, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne had said, ‘I want to make it clear to the people of India, and the entire world, Mehul Choksi is not welcomed here in Antigua and Barbuda, we want him out of the country, and as soon as leaves the better.”
After his mysterious disappearance, the local authorities in Antigua had shared the missing person’s report with Interpol. There is already a red corner notice against him, which means if he crosses the border, immigration authorities of any country can apprehend him.
