Setback for CBI, Interpol drops notice against Mehul Choksi

Sources said the RCN was removed following a petition by Choksi to Interpol. In 2021, Choksi had alleged an abduction bid by men he claimed were Indian agents who took him from the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, where he was staying, to Dominica.

According to sources, the Interpol order stated there was “credible possibility that the applicant’s abduction from Antigua to Dominica had the ultimate purpose of deporting the applicant to India” where there was a “risk” that he would not get a fair trial.

Choksi had fled India in January 2018, days before the CBI registered a case against him and his nephew Nirav Modi in the PNB case. He had by then acquired citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda.

According to Choksi’s family and lawyers, he was kidnapped on May 23, 2021, through a Hungarian woman identified by them as Babara Jarabic and taken in a yacht to Dominica by two men named Gurmit Singh and Gurjeet Bhandal.

Choksi’s lawyers alleged that he was threatened on the way to Dominica and asked to sign a consent form to be repatriated to India.

Choksi was subsequently arrested in Dominica on charges of illegal entry. His lawyers, meanwhile, alleged that a private jet carrying Indian officials had arrived in that country.

However, Choksi was able to return to Antigua after the case of illegal entry was committed to a Dominican court. In 2022, the charge was dropped.

While India’s position is that Choksi is an Indian citizen, his lawyers have maintained that he ceased to be one when he took Antiguan citizenship in 2017.

In December last year, the CBI booked Choksi in a fresh case of loan fraud. In the new case, he has been accused of defrauding and diverting loan funds to the tune of over Rs 6,700 crore.