India pushes for Choksi’s repatriation from Dominica

NEW DELHI: Government investigators on Thursday pushed to bring back fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who was captured in Dominica two days after mysteriously vanishing from Antigua & Barbuda, even as the businessman’s lawyers alleged he was abducted and deportation to India was not legally permitted.

Indian-born Choksi, who fled the country in 2018 after being charged in the ₹13,578 Punjab National Bank cheating case, was apprehended by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) in the Caribbean island of Dominica on Tuesday night on the basis of an Interpol “yellow notice”. He had gone missing in Antigua on Sunday evening, roughly 101 nautical miles away.

The Indian government was coordinating with both Dominica and Antigua & Barbuda to bring Choksi back, considering he was currently located illegally in a jurisdiction from where he could be repatriated on the basis of the Interpol red notice, people familiar with developments said.

A senior Indian investigator agreed that India now had better chances to bring Choksi back. “We are in touch with authorities in Dominica to get him repatriated to India. He is not a citizen there so he can be deported quickly,” he said on condition of anonymity.

In Antigua, PM Gaston Browne told reporters that Choksi should be declared persona non grata and sent to India instead of Antigua & Barbuda, where he has legal and constitution protection as a citizen.

“We asked them (Dominica) not to repatriate him to Antigua. He needs to return to India where he can face the criminal charges levelled against him”, Browne told journalists. Browne added that Choksi had made a monumental error by fleeing to Dominica.

However, acting police chief of Dominica Lincoln Corbette hinted that he may not be sent back to India.