MANHUNT FOR CHOKSI, MISSING IN ANTIGUA
NEW DELHI: Police in Antigua have launched a search for fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who went missing in the tiny Caribbean island on Sunday evening after heading to a popular local restaurant for dinner, according to his lawyer and a missing persons notice issued by the country’s Royal Police Force.
Indian agencies have alerted Interpol for more information about his whereabouts, people familiar with the matter said.
Reports in the Antiguan media on Tuesday suggested that Choksi may have fled to Cuba.
Choksi has sought refuge in Antigua after allegedly cheating Punjab National Bank of ₹13,578 crore along with his nephew Nirav Modi.
Police in Antigua have launched a search for fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who went missing in the tiny Caribbean island on Sunday evening after heading to a popular local restaurant for dinner, according to his lawyer and a missing persons notice issued by the country’s Royal Police Force.
Indian agencies have also alerted Interpol for more information about his whereabouts, people familiar with the developments said.
Reports in the Antiguan media on Monday suggested that Choksi may have fled to Cuba fearing his extradition to India, but his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal denied the contention, and Indian agencies said they had no such information.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, in a video posted by antiguanewsroom.com, said in the Antiguan parliament on Tuesday that there is no “reliable information to date to confirm that he has fled the country. It is likely that he may still be here and law enforcement is utilizing all efforts, including all intelligence to locate him.”
He added that in case it is true that Choksi has indeed fled the country, “we could get judgement in absentia and we will revoke his citizenship in due course.” Other than the extradition proceedings, Choksi is also fighting another case on the revocation of his citzenship in the island nation.
“Mehul Choksi is missing. His family members are worried and anxious and had called me to discuss. Antigua police are investigating. Family is in the dark and worried about his safety,” Choksi’s lawyer said
Choksi, who has 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 Monday “to go for dinner at a well-known restaurant in the southern part of the island and was never seen again”, according to a report in the antiguanewsroom.com. Modi is facing extradition proceedings in the UK.
Police in Antigua have sought public assistance for information on Choksi, who, according to a police statement, was last seen at about 5:15pm (local time) before leaving home in a car, which has since been recovered.
After an official complaint was lodged at the Johnson Point Police Station, the police launched a manhunt. “Based on additional information received, the police have conducted numerous searches but to no avail,” the local police said in the statement on Monday.
Indian officials that HT spoke to, both in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) said they are in touch with concerned Antiguan officials through the ministry of external affairs (MEA), and were confident that Choksi would be traced soon.
India has been pursuing Choksi’s extradition in Antigua since 2018, and an Interpol red notice is pending against him.
India has an extradition arrangement with Antigua and Barbuda. People familiar with his citizenship said that Choksi has approached the high court there against Antigua’s process to revoke his citizenship, but the legal battle may take some time.
Sherbir Panag, Partner at Panag and Babu and an international legal expert on white collar crimes, said – “Assuming that Mehul Choksi has left the country after he felt that India’s diplomatic efforts to bring him back here are working, he will try to place himself in a jurisdiction which doesn’t have extradition arrangement/treaty with India”.