India / Mehul Choksi has to be deported to India: Dominica govt tells court

New Delhi: The High Court of Dominica that was hearing a 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.

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.

Fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi has to be deported to India, the government of Dominica has submitted to a court that is hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by Choksi.

Times Now has learned that the Dominican Public Prosecution Service has submitted before the Dominican High Court that the petition filed by Choksi is "not maintainable" and hence it "should not be heard".

Mehul Choksi's legal team had filed the habeas corpus plea last week after he was arrested in Dominica, allegedly for having entered the country illegally from Antigua and Barbuda.

Choksi is said to be attending the hearing virtually from the hospital. Teams from Indian agencies are also present, they said, adding that seven lawyers are representing Choksi in court.

Ahead of the hearing, Indian officials said they had collected documents including his Aadhaar, Permanent Account Number (PAN), and ration card to prove that the fugitive businessman never gave up his Indian citizenship. 

On Sunday, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne made a sensational claim, saying Choksi travelled with his girlfriend to Dominica, but he was caught. The PM has also requested the Dominican authorities to directly deport Choksi back to India.

Mehul Choksi feared for his life, was terrified: Wife Priti

Mehul Choksi’s wife Priti Choksi earlier today, in an interview with ANI said that the woman shown on TV channels as the businessman’s girlfriend is not Barbara as claimed. “The woman was known to my husband. She used to meet my husband while visiting Antigua. From what I have understood from people who have met her, the woman shown on media channels is not the same woman that they knew as Barbara,” she claimed.

Priti also expressed anguish over injuries caused to her husband. “What has brought anguish to the family is physical torture and total disregard for the human rights of my husband. If someone really wanted him back alive, why did they need to torture and abuse him physically and mentally?” she said.

She claimed that Mehul Choksi has several health issues. “He is an Antiguan citizen and enjoys all rights, protection as per Antigua and Barbuda constitution. I’ve full faith in the rule of law of the Caribbean nations. We await his safe and rightful return to Antigua at the earliest,” she told ANI.

Earlier, Choksi had gone missing some days ago from Antigua and Barbuda and was later traced to and arrested in Dominica. He alleged through his lawyers that he was abducted on May 23 and that people with 'links to India' abducted him in collaboration with Antiguan officials. He was then beaten up, tortured, and taken to Dominica in a vessel where he was arrested, claim Choksi's lawyers.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi allegedly siphoned off crores of public money from PNB using fraudulent letters of undertaking. At present, Nirav Modi, lodged in a London jail, is contesting his extradition to India after repeated denial of his bail by courts. In 2017, Choksi took citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda and fled India in early January 2018.