Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi admitted to hospital in Dominica after testing negative for COVID-19
On Sunday, Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne while speaking to a local radio station said Choksi may have taken his girlfriend to Dominica on a romantic trip and got caught.
FollowFugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has been admitted to Dominica China Friendship Hospital in Roseau after he was taken out of police custody. The 63-year-old disgraced businessman was tested for Covid negative on Sunday.
Choksi had gone missing for some days in Antigua and Barbuda, and was traced and arrested in Dominica on May 26. He had been staying in Antigua and Barbuda since January 2018 after fleeing India.
Choksi’s Antigua lawyer Justin Simon confirmed the news to ToI saying, “I would not send fake media information. I am wary of the media, but that Dominica reporter has it right.”
Choksi's lawyers have reached the Dominican court where a habeas corpus petition has been filed on his behalf. While the lawyers alleged that Choksi was "abducted" by the police, the Antigua Police has denied such claims.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne on Sunday requested Dominica to deport Choksi to India directly, indicating that if he is deported to Antigua, he would continue to enjoy legal protection as a citizen of the country.
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne on the mysterious disappearance of the diamantaire from the Carribean nation, claimed that the latter may have taken his girlfriend to Dominica on a romantic trip when he got caught.
"Mehul Choksi made a mistake and the information we are getting is that Choksi travelled with his girlfriend but he was caught in Dominica and now he can be deported back to India," Gaston Browne was reported to have told the local media.
On Saturday, pictures of Choksi released by Antigua Newsroom showed him behind bars and with injuries on his hands and a swollen and bruised left eye.
Several news reports citing sources mentioned that India sent officials with legal documents and a special aircraft to Dominica for Choksi’s deportation directly to India.
Mehul Choksi is wanted in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. He was arrested in Dominica on Wednesday for allegedly entering the country "illegally" from Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been living since January 2018.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the two Indian agents, allegedly involved in the ‘abduction of Choksi’, have left Dominica.
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