In a setback for Mehul Choksi, an Antwerp court has upheld his arrest as valid and ordered him to be extradited to India. However, he has still appeal against the ruling at a higher court.
Choksi, 66, who is the owner of Gitanjali Group, is accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. He was arrested in Belgium on April 12 based on extradition request by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
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India assured the Belgian ministry of justice and the judicial authorities that he will be given humane treatment at the prison.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs earlier detailed that medical provisions, occupancy limits and oversight mechanisms that will be provided to Choksi at the Mumbai Central Prison, which is popularly called the Arthur Road Jail.
Besides Choksi, his nephew Nirav Modi, other relatives, employees and bank officials were also named in the 2018 case. They allegedly committed the fraud through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) by conspiring with bank officials at the Brady House branch in Mumbai.
He took refuge in the Carribean nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Later, he vanished from the island nation and was spotted in Dominica. But Indian attempts for extradition was denied. In November 2023, he went to Belgium for a medical treatment, following which India approached the local authorities for his custody.
In August, a Belgium court had rejected Choksi's bail plea after the CBI told the prosecution that Choksi had escaped from other countries previously to evade legal proceedings and may flee to another country if he is given bail.
Nirav Modi has been jailed in London since 2019 after the ED and the CBI sought his extradition to India. |
