No bail for Choksi; trying to get him back, says India
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said it was making all efforts to bring back fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi as a court in Dominica denied bail to the businessman and remanded him to police custody for roughly two weeks on charges of illegally entering the island nation.
The developments came on a day the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court adjourned hearing in a habeas corpus petition filed by Choksi’s lawyers and the government of Antigua, where the 62-year-old spent three years as a citizen before he went missing on May 23, reiterated that it favoured deporting the businessman to India.
“He (Choksi) is currently in the custody of Dominica with some legal proceedings underway. We will continue to make all efforts to ensure he is brought to back India,” foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters.
This is the first time the Indian government has officially commented on the issue since Choksi disappeared from Antigua and was found three days later in Dominica, roughly 100 nautical miles away.
“Let me emphasise that India remains steadfast in its efforts to ensure that fugitives are brought back to India to face justice,” Bagchi added.
India-born Choksi, who is wanted in a ₹13,500 crore bank fraud case, faces two separate legal proceedings in Dominica. A magistrate’s court in the Dominican capital Roseau is hearing the government’s charge that the businessman entered the country illegally. And, Choksi’s lawyers have moved the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, alleging that he was abducted and asking him to be sent back to Antigua.
In the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, justice Bernie Stephenson adjourned the matter to allow Choksi’s legal team and Dominican prosecutors to meet and agree on the language to be used in the injunction filed to stop his removal from Dominica, according to local media.
As the hearing was underway, some protesters demonstrated outside court and sought a probe into Choksi’s presence in Dominica.
In the court of magistrate Candia Carrette-George, Dominican state attorney Sherma Dalrymple argued that Choksi entered Dominica illegally at Toucari beach on May 21.