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India on Thursday said Antigua and Barbuda is considering its request to extradite Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in connection with a banking fraud and is residing in the Caribbean nation.
A senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on August 3 handed over a request to Antigua and Barbuda for extradition of Choksi, who has obtained citizenship of the island nation.
“We have been told that they (Antiguan authorities) are examining the (extradition) request,” MEA official spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
India is trying to bring back Choksi from Antigua under the provision of a law of the nation that provides for extradition of a fugitive to a designated Commonwealth country. He faces several charges in India in connection with the Punjab National Bank scam.
READ | MEA awaits response from Antigua, UK to extradite Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi
Kumar said as per the provisions of the Extradition Act, 1993 of Antigua and Barbuda, a fugitive may be extradited to a designated Commonwealth Country or a State with which there are general or special arrangement or a bilateral treaty.
On August 3, the MEA issued a notification stating that the provisions of India’s Extradition Act, 1962 shall apply to Antigua and Barbuda with retrospective effect from 2001, when the Caribbean nation notified India as a designated Commonwealth Country under the island nation’s extradition law.
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