Fugitive Jeweller Mehul Choksi Held in Dominica

Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in the Rs 13,500 crore PNB scam and had gone missing for some days in Antigua and Barbuda, has been traced in Dominica and been arrested by the local police there.
Dominica is a small island nation in the Caribbean Sea.

The Antigua Police has contacted the police in Dominica to seek his custody. Mehul Choksi was traced in Dominica after a 'yellow corner notice was issued by Interpol, reported India Today.

Sources say the Interpol has informed the CBI that Mehul Choksi has been traced and arrested in Dominica. They added that he reached Dominica from Antigua and Barbuda through a boat, the report said.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne while quoted by India Today TV said, "We have asked the Dominican government to detain him for entering their country illegally, to make him persona non grata and have him deported directly to India."

Mehul Choksi had been staying in Antigua and Barbuda since January 2018. He and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) using letters of undertaking.

While Nirav Modi is in a London prison after being repeatedly denied bail and is contesting his extradition to India, Mehul Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018.

The scam came to light subsequently. Both are facing a CBI probe.

After Mehul Choksi's sudden disappearance, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne in statement said authorities were "collaborating" with the Indian government, neighbouring countries and international police organisation to try and locate him.

"Someone from his household indicated that he is missing. Since then Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda put out a statement to that effect. That statement will be shared with the Interpol," he had said.

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