Mehul Choksi hearing Update :
The High Court of Dominica that was hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi has adjourned the matter till Thursday. The court however ordered that Mehul Choksi should be brought before a magistrate court immediately on the charge of illegally entering the country.
Mehul Choksi's legal team had argued that he should have been produced before a magistrate court within 72 hours of his arrest.
Accepting the argument, the high court has ordered that he should be
produced before the magistrate court today at 4 PM (Dominica time).
During the hearing on Wednesday, Mehul Choksi's counsel argued that he doesn't feel safe in the police custody in Dominica. "I am ready to pay for my return to Antigua," he told the high court.
The government of Dominica told the court that Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case in India, has to be deported to India.
India Today TV has learnt that the Dominican Public Prosecution Service submitted before the High Court of Dominica that the petition filed by Mehul Choksi is "not maintainable", and hence it "should not be heard".
Mehul Choksi's legal team had filled the habeas corpus plea last week after he was detained in Dominica, allegedly for having entered the country illegally from Antigua and Barbuda.
His lawyers have alleged that he was "abducted" and "forcibly taken" to Dominica. They have also alleged that he was assaulted and there are "marks of injury" on his body.
Mehul Choksi has been staying in Antigua and Barbuda since January 2018, weeks before the PNB fraud case came to light. He had acquired citizenship of the island nation by way of investment.
Meanwhile, Vijay Aggarwal, his lawyer in India, said, "Our stand that Mehul Choksi is in an illegal detention as he was required to be produced within 72 hours before the magistrate and was not so produced, has been vindicated. In order to remedy this, he has been asked to be produced before the magistrate. This establishes illegal detention of Mehul Choksi as pleaded by the defence. Contrary to numerous media reports, there was no discussion regarding government of India."
He should be sent to Antigua, says Mehul Choksi's wife
Earlier in the day, speaking to India Today TV in a telephonic interview, Mehul Choksi Wife Preet Chokshi said " he has offered to join the investigation via virtual platforms but Indian agencies "don't want to investigate" the matter.
"He (Mehul Choksi) doesn't want to return to India. Authorities in Dominica should send him back home to Antigua," she said.
Multi-agency team from India reaches Dominica
Meanwhile, a team of multi - agency officials led by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) DIG has reached Dominica to bring back Mehul Choksi to India if the courts there allow his deportation.
The team consists two members of the CBI and officials of the other agencies.
On May 23, Mehul Choksi mysteriously went missing from Antigua and Barbuda where he has been staying since 2018 as a citizen. He was detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend's .
Since then, the Dominican government has issued a statement saying it is ascertaining the status of his citizenship with Antigua, and once confirmed, he would be deported there.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne had said Dominica and law enforcement agencies, unless the court rules otherwise, can deport him to India because he is an Indian citizen, Antigua News Room reported.
"The problem is if he is sent back to Antigua because he is an Antiguan citizen, even though his citizenship is unsettled, he still enjoys constitutional and legal protections as a citizen. We have no doubt that his citizenship will ultimately be revoked because he did not disclose material of information," he said.
Why is Mehul Choksi wanted in India?
Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi had fled India in the first week of January, 2018 weeks before Rs 13,500 crore scam in Punjab National Bank rocked Indian banking industry.
The duo allegedly bribed the officials of state run bank to get Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) on the basis of which they availed from overseas banks which remained unpaid.
Nirav Modi escaped to Europe and was finally held in London where he is contesting his extradition to India while Mehul Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 where he had been staying since his escape from Delhi.
