Interpol had issued a red notice against Choksi in 2018. (File)
New Delhi:
Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi’s name in the Rs 13,000-crore scam at Punjab National Bank is understood to have been removed from the Interpol database of red notices, based on his petition to the Lyon-headquartered agency, people aware of the development said. .
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is tight-lipped on this development.
A Red Notice is the highest form of alert issued by the 195-member country-strong Interpol to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and temporarily arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.
Requests for comments from the CBI and Choksi’s legal team remained unanswered.
The Interpol had issued a red notice against Choksi in 2018, nearly 10 months after he had fled India in January that year to seek refuge in Antigua and Barbuda, where he had taken citizenship.
Sources said Choksi had challenged the CBI’s plea to issue a red notice against him, terming the case as a result of a political conspiracy. He also raised questions on issues like prison conditions in India, his personal safety and health.
The matter went to the court of a five-member Interpol committee, called the Commission for Control of Files, which approved the RCN (Red Notice), sources said.
The CBI has filed separate charge sheets against both Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi in the scam.
The agency, in its charge sheet, had alleged that Choksi defrauded Rs 7,080.86 crore, making it the country’s biggest banking scam of over Rs 13,000 crore. Nirav Modi allegedly embezzled Rs 6,000 crore. Additional loan defaults of over Rs 5,000 crore to Choksi’s companies are also the subject of probe under the CBI.
Choksi disappeared from his sanctuary in Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021 to mysteriously reappear in neighboring Dominica where he was detained for illegal entry.
After the news of Choksi’s capture in Dominica surfaced, India sent a team of officers led by CBI DIG Sharda Raut to make every effort to bring him back on the basis of an Interpol Red Notice against him.
His lawyer in London, Michael Pollack, who lodged the complaint with Scotland Yard, said that Choksi was deported to Antigua and Barbuda, where as a citizen he had to apply for his citizenship and the British as a last resort in extradition cases. Has access to the Privy Council of the Queen. For Dominica where these rights are not available to him.
India’s attempt to bring back Choksi was unsuccessful as his lawyers showed unprecedented speed in filing a habeas corpus petition before the Dominica High Court, which was accepted for hearing.
His swift legal maneuvering as well as the investigation into the circumstances of his disappearance from Antigua thwarted India’s efforts to deport Choksi to Dominica.
After 51 days in jail, 62-year-old Choksi was granted bail by the Dominica High Court in July 2021 to return to Antigua to seek medical help from a neurologist based there, with the proviso that he would appear in the trial if cleared of fitness by his doctors. Will come back to face. ,
All proceedings against Choksi for illegal entry into Dominica were later dropped.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)