Mehul Choksi Can’t Be Deported Yet, Says Dominica Court, Grants Legal Aid

New Delhi:

A courtroom in Dominica has placed on maintain the deportation of fugitive diamond jeweler Mehul Choksi, who was arrested within the Caribbean island nation whereas attempting to flee to Cuba from Antigua, the place he had been dwelling since 2018. Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne had requested Dominica to send him back to India directly however this has been contested by his attorneys, who declare that the needed businessman can’t be despatched to India as he’s is not a citizen of the nation.

The following listening to within the matter on Friday at 9 am native time.

Mehul Choksi’s authorized workforce in Dominica had filed a petition after they had been allegedly not given entry to him, native media reported. In addition they claimed that “marks of torture” have been reported on his physique.

“I seen that he was severely overwhelmed, his eyes had been swollen and he had a number of burnt marks on his physique. He reported to me that he was kidnapped at Jolly Harbour in Antigua and dropped at Dominica by individuals whom he believed to be Indian and Antiguan police on a vessel he described to be about 60-70 toes in size,” Wayne Marsh, Choksi’s lawyer in Dominica, was quoted as saying by information company ANI.

Sources within the Indian authorities have reiterated that the federal government will use diplomatic channels shall be used to convey again the fugitive jeweler, who is needed in reference to the Punjab Nationwide Financial institution (PNB) mortgage fraud case.

Mehul Choksi was caught when he was allegedly trying to escape to Cuba from Antigua, the place he had been dwelling since 2018 after leaving India. He reportedly left Antigua and took a ship to neighbouring Dominica. With an Interpol lookout round in opposition to him, he was caught by the police from a seaside in Dominica.

The diamond jeweler, alongside together with his nephew Nirav Modi, is needed in India for allegedly siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore of public cash from the state-run Punjab Nationwide Financial institution utilizing pretend paperwork. Nirav Modi, jailed in London, is contesting his extradition to India.