Antigua investigates if Choksi was ‘abducted’

NEW DELHI: Antigua and Barbuda has launched an investigation into allegations of the “abduction” of Mehul Choksi from the country on May 23 after the businessman filed a formal complaint with Royal Police Force there, the island nation’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne said on Saturday.

Browne, however, reiterated that he doesn’t believe that Choksi was abducted from the country and the police’s “abduction” probe is on the basis of allegations levelled by Choksi in a written complaint.

Indian-born Choksi mysteriously disappeared from Antigua and Barbuda, whose citizenship he holds, but was detained by Dominican police on charges of illegally entering the island. The two islands are roughly 100 nautical miles apart.

“Mehul Choksi has filed a written complaint with the Antiguan Royal Police Force through his attorneys, claiming that he was abducted from Antigua and Barbuda and taken to Dominica. It is a report that the police is taking very seriously and they are currently investigating the abduction,” Browne told a Caribbean FM radio station.

He added that he received information about Choksi’s formal abduction complaint on Friday.

“As I said earlier, it is unlikely that he was abducted as Antigua and Barbuda doesn’t have culture of abductions and the fact that there was no ransom (demanded),” Browne said in the radio interview.

Browne added that Choksi, in his written complaint, specifically named some officials of Antigua as “abductees”, seeking a probe into their conduct. Asserting that Antigua takes allegations of abduction seriously, he said that an investigation was being carried out.

“There is no truth to abduction theory; there is no violation of (his) any constitutional rights. This is a situation in which there is cooperation between two states to send a wanted person to India, who was found illegally in Dominica...,” Browne added.

Meanwhile, a local website in the Caribbean ran a photograph of Choksi walking with a man, claiming that the person was behind the businessman’s escape plan to Cuba. The report could not be verified.

ANTIGUA PM GASTON BROWNE REITERATED THAT HE DOESN’T BELIEVE THAT FUGITIVE DIAMANTAIRE MEHUL CHOKSI WAS ABDUCTED