Mehul Choksi gets a breather as Dominica court defers hearing; Antigua wants him deported
India | June 03, 2021 21:43 ISTThe court has asked both prosecution and defence lawyers to discuss the matter among themselves.
The court has asked both prosecution and defence lawyers to discuss the matter among themselves.
Choksi's lawyer in India and his wife Priti have alleged that former diamond tycoon was physically assaulted after he was taken into custody in Dominica on May 23.
The Dominican government argued in court on Wednesday that Mehul Choksi -- the fugitive diamond trader wanted over the Rs 14,000 crore loan fraud at the Punjab National Bank -- be deported to India. The Dominican Public Prosecution Service has told the High Court that the petition filed by the 62-year-old is not maintainable and should not be heard. India will push for his early deportation, contending that he continues to be an Indian citizen.
A magistrate court in Dominica has rejected the bail application of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi in connection with his illegal entry into the country, news agency ANI reported. "Will will move the upper court," said his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal. Choksi was produced before a magistrate in Dominica to answer charges of his illegal entry into the Caribbean island nation following a high court order on Wednesday. He appeared before the magistrate on a wheel chair in a blue T-shirt and black shorts.
A magistrate court in Dominica has rejected the bail application of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi in connection with his illegal entry into the country, news agency ANI reported. "Will will move the upper court," said his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal.
Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in India for allegedly siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore of public money from PNB.
The diamantaire, who mysteriously went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been staying since 2018 as a citizen, was detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend.
Mehul Choksi, the fugitive Indian diamond businessman wanted in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank loan fraud should be deported to India, the Dominican government told a country's court on Wednesday. The matter has been adjourned till Thursday, June 3.
According to reports, India authorities argued in the court that Choksi remains an Indian citizen and that his plea doesn't hold ground while pressing for his early deportation.
"The woman shown on media channels is not the same woman that they knew as Barbara. Woman was known to my husband, she would visit whenever came to Antigua," Priti said.
Dominica's Leader of the Opposition Lennox Linton on June 2 clarified the allegations against taking bribery from Mehul Choksi's brother Chetan Choksi.
Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that the fugitive jeweller used the courts to stay the revocation of his citizenship.
Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in India for allegedly siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore of public money from PNB.
Even as a private jet from Qatar landed in Dominica with documents related to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, wanted in the PNB loan fraud case, sources on Tuesday said members of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and Ministry of External Affairs are camping in the island nation.
Reports in Antiguan media and Choksi's lawyers said that he was arrested from Dominica when he was visiting his girlfriend Babara Jarabica. The woman is a property investment consultant and has studied at the London School of Economics, reports said.
In discussions with his lawyers, Choksi claimed that he was abducted at Jolly’s Bay in Antigua by Indian and Antiguan men and taken on a boat to an undisclosed location.
Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has been moved to the government quarantine facility in Dominica, according to sources on Sunday. On Saturday, pictures of Choksi released by Antigua Newsroom showed him behind bars and with injuries on his hands and a swollen and bruised left eye. These were the first public pictures of Choksi, who had reportedly gone missing on Sunday (May 23) evening. He was later apprehended by Dominica Police on Wednesday and had been in their custody since then.
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 (PNB) using letters of undertaking.
The brutal marks on Mehul Choksi's body clearly establish our abduction claims, the fugitive businessman's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said Sunday.
Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi might have taken his girlfriend on a romantic trip to Dominica where he was caught, Antigua News Room quoted Prime Minister Gaston Browne as saying. He made the sensational claims over the mysterious disappearance of Mehul Choksi from the Carribean region in an interview.
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