Fugitive jeweler Mehul Choksi’s arrest came in a theatric manner as he evaded to Dominica by boat and was captured by local authorities while disposing documents. The diamond merchant was wanted by the Indian authorities for his connection with the Punjab National Bank fraud case. The relative of another diamond merchant fugitive Nirav Modi, Choksi was missing from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda where he was living since 2018 after he fled from India.

Choksi goes missing, flees to Dominica by boat

On May 23, Choksi was reported missing from the A&B, the Caribbean Island nation where he had been living since 2018. After his reports of fleeing from A&B emerged, the Interpol issued a Yellow Notice against him. According to sources, Choksi fled from the Caribbean Island nation and fled to Dominica, another tiny nation by a boat. Thanks to the massive scale manhunt that was launched against him, the local police arrested him and has now kept him under their custody. According to the local police, he was found disposing some documents in the sea at the Dominican capital Roseau’s Canefield Beach.

Local authorities questions fugitive, scuba divers directed

When the local authorities found Choksi disposing of documents, they took him for questioning. Local media from the region stated that Choksi could not explain the reason for his travel to Dominica and that scuba divers have been directed to initiate the process of retrieval of all the documents Choksi discarded in the sea.

A&B Prime Minister Tells Dominica to send Choksi to India directly

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of A&B asked the Dominican authorities to send him to India directly. Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of A&B in his statement said that Choksi made a huge mistake of fleeing the island.

“Dominica has agreed to hand Mehul Choksi over to India. We’ll not accept him back. He made a monumental error by skipping the island. Dominican govt and law enforcement are cooperating with us and we have informed the Indian government to have him repatriated to India,”

-said Browne.

According to reports, the Indian government is in contact with both the countries through its diplomatic channels and further has already laid out plans as to how Choksi can be repartitioned back to India. A Deccan Herald report states that top officials in the Indian government is in touch with the relevant counterparts in A&B and Dominica to see that his repatriation process sees no legal hassle.

Meanwhile, report from NDTV stated that the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have initiated the process of bringing Choksi to Antigua authorities. Further, the CBI has also stated that Choksi’s attempt to flee would make the case against him stronger in the court of law and that he can be brought back to India sooner than anticipated.

Choksi did not reach Dominica voluntarily: Lawyer of the fugitive billionaire

While reports from all over the nation confirms that Choksi had indeed fled to Dominica, his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal spoke to Indian Express where he said that the wanted fugitive did not reach the island nation “voluntarily”. In his statement, Aggarwal said-

“There should be no speculations till one finds out from Mehul Choksi that how he landed up in Dominica my understanding is that his reaching Dominica is not voluntary. So, I find something fishy that nobody seems to be at the moment looking into the fact that how exactly he reached Dominica.”

Aggarwal further said that Choksi can be deported back to Antigua where he is a citizen of and not to India.

“As per Indian citizenship act section 9, the moment Mehul Choksi acquired the citizenship of Antigua he ceased to be a citizen of India. Hence legally as per the immigration and passport Act section 17 and 23, he can be deported only to Antigua.”

The case of Mehul Choksi can be traced back to January 2018 when he left India and took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda. The move came just a few days after the entire Punjab National Bank scam was reported. Choksi is currently accused of defrauding PNB of Rs. 13,600 crores. Meanwhile, his partner in crime and his relative Nirav Modi, is also accused in the same case. Modi has in the recent past unsuccessfully contested his extradition from the UK where he’s currently serving time in prison.

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