Choksi, who went missing in Antigua, traced in Dominica
NEW DELHI: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who mysteriously went missing in Antigua & Barbuda on Sunday evening, was apprehended by authorities in Dominica, a Caribbean island located about 101 nautical miles from Antigua, according to local media there.
A report in dominicannewsonline.com said that Indianborn Choksi was in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) in Dominica after he was caught on Tuesday night on the basis of an Interpol “yellow notice”.
It added that arrangements were being made to hand him over to police in Antigua.
Officials in Indian agencies said they were in touch with authorities in both the Caribbean countries to ascertain more details, but it appears that he was trying to flee somewhere else, and that Domnica was just a stop en route to his final destination.
“He may have taken a private boat to flee to Dominica. We are gathering more details,” said an officer.
Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said: “I have spoken to family; family is happy and relieved that finally the whereabouts of Mehul Choksi are known. And efforts are being made to speak to him so that one can know the clearer picture that (on) how he was taken to Dominica.”
On Tuesday, Antigua and Barbuba’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that if Choksi had fled the country, he would
have done so using a boat.
The Antiguan government has said on several occasions that it is ready to extradite Choksi to India, for which the process is already going on.
His extradition case as well as revocation of citizenship by Antigua is currently being pursued in a court there, which he has challenged.
Choksi, who sought refuge in Antigua after allegedly cheating Punjab National Bank of ₹13,578 crore along with his nephew Nirav Modi, and fleeing India in 2018, left his home on Sunday to go for dinner at a well-known restaurant in the southern part of the island and was never seen again. His car was found in Jolly Harbour, a popular nightspot in the 280 sq km island with a population of less than 100,000 people.