Mehul Choksi Case: Antigua And Barbuda Police Launch Probe Into the Fugitive Diamond Tycoon’s ‘Possible Abduction’

New Delhi, June 7: Antigua and Barbuda police have commenced an investigation into the possible abduction of Mehul Choksi from Antigua on May 23, 2021. According to Antigua Ness Room, a news outlet in Carribean island, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has said that Choksi's lawyers wrote to the police commissioner providing the names of the people he believes abducted him. Browne said both the police and the government are taking the allegations seriously.

While speaking to a radio, Browne said that he has learnt that Choksi has filed a complaint with Antigua and Barbuda police that he was abducted and taken to Dominica. "Choksi has filed a complaint with the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda to the extant that he was abducted. He made a formal claim through his attorneys that he was abducted from Antigua and taken to Dominica so it is a report that police is taking seriously and they are currently investigating the abduction," Browne said. Mehul Choksi Case: Dominican Govt Tells Court to Reject Fugitive Businessman's Habeas Corpus Petition.

A Dominican High Court will hear Choksi's bail plea later in the day. Meanwhile another report in the Associates Times found out fault in the theory of Dominica opposition leader Lennox Linton, who had reportedly claimed that Choksi was brought to Dominica in the Yacht Calliope of Arne around 10 p.m. on May 23.

Choksi, who is wanted in India by the CBI and the ED in connection with the PNB fraud case, had gone missing on May 23 from Antigua sparking a massive manhunt. He was captured in Dominica on May 26. Choksi and his lawyers had claimed that he was forced on a vessel and was abducted.

On June 2, Choksi pleaded not guilty to illegal entry before the court and was denied bail. He appeared before the magistrate on a wheelchair in a blue T-shirt and black trousers.

According to Dominica News Online, the magistrate's court denied bail to Choksi after the government prosecutor argued that he was facing 11 offences in India and extradition proceedings in Antigua and could be a flight risk. The 62-year-old left India in January 2018, days before the CBI registered a case. On May 27, first pictures of Choksi emerged online, showing several signs of bruises on his arms and a swollen eye.