Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who is a key accused in the Rs 13,000-crore PNB loan fraud case in India, on Monday said he was brutally thrashed by some men who claimed to be from Antiguan Police on May 23. The 62-year-old businessman is currently facing a court case in Dominica for illegally entering into the island country from Antigua, where he had been living as a citizen since 2018.
In his complaint to Antiguan Police, he claimed, “Some 8-10 men who claimed to be from Antiguan Police beat me mercilessly. I was barely conscious. They took my phone, watch and wallet. They told me that they didn’t want to rob me and returned my money.”
“Over the past year, I have been on friendly terms with Barbara Jabarica. On May 23, she asked me to pick her up at her house. When I went there, 8-10 men appeared from all the entrances and beat me mercilessly. When I was being beaten up, Jabarica didn’t even attempt to help me or assist in any other way by calling for help from outside; manner in which Jabarica conducted herself clearly points that she was an integral part of this entire scheme to kidnap me,” ANI quoted Choksi as saying in the complaint.
Earlier in the day, CNN-News18 accessed pictures of Choksi with his agent, who purportedly helped him escape from Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua police sources told CNN-News18 that efforts are on to identify the man.
According to the initial probe, the man was attempting to take Choksi to Cuba through the sea route, but the plan was foiled after he was nabbed in Dominica.
Govin, Choksi’s close friend in Antigua, has exposed his plan to leave Antigua and settle in a safehouse in Cuba. Govin has revealed that the fugitive diamantaire holds another citizenship of a Caribbean country, apart from Antigua and Barbuda, police sources said.
Indian intelligence sources also told CNN-News18 that Choksi made up his kidnapping story as he knew about the Antigua government’s commitment to send him back to India.
Choksi had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been staying since 2018 as a citizen after he fled Delhi. He was detained later in the neighbouring island country Dominica for illegal entry. His lawyers alleged that he was kidnapped from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen, who looked like Antiguan and Indian, and then brought to Dominica on a boat.
Meanwhile, the multi-agency team which had gone to Dominica for Choksi’s deportation has returned to India after the Dominica High Court adjourned the hearing. The jet carrying the team led by CBI DIG Sharda Raut departed the Melville Hall Airport in Dominica at 8.09 pm (local time) on June 3 and arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here at 11.02 pm (IST). The team remained stationed for nearly seven days to bring Choksi to India as legal battle continued in the courts of Dominica.
It is likely that the next hearing may take place after a month and the businessman will remain in Dominica, local media reported. Judge Bernie Stephenson will decide the next date of hearing after meeting both sides, media outlet Antigua News Room said.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi had fled India in the first week of January 2018, weeks before a multi-crore scam in the Punjab National Bank rocked the Indian banking industry. The duo allegedly bribed officials of the state-run bank to get Letters of Undertaking (LoU) based on which they availed loans from overseas banks that remained unpaid.
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