Mehul Choksi Arrested in Belgium

NEW DELHI: According to a source within India’s Enforcement Directorate, fugitive jeweler Mehul Choksi has been apprehended in Belgium. This arrest occurs seven years after his involvement in one of India’s most significant bank fraud cases came to light.

Prior to Choksi’s arrest, the Indian government had submitted a request for his extradition. However, it is anticipated that he will contest the extradition on medical grounds, the source noted.

In 2018, Punjab National Bank (PNB), which ranks as India’s second-largest state-run lender based on assets, reported the discovery of an alleged fraud amounting to $1.8 billion at a single branch located in Mumbai.

The bank subsequently lodged a criminal complaint with India’s federal investigative agency against several entities, including billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi and Choksi, who is Modi’s uncle and the managing director of Gitanjali Gems. The complaint alleged that they had defrauded PNB.

Indian federal police have filed fraud charges against Choksi, Nirav Modi, and others in connection with their suspected involvement in fraudulent transactions that resulted in substantial losses for PNB.

Both diamond tycoons have refuted any claims of misconduct.

In a 2018 letter, Choksi stated that the “investigating agencies were acting with pre-determined minds and interfering with the course of justice.”

Attempts to reach his lawyer for comment on Monday were unsuccessful.

Nirav Modi fled India in 2018 before details of his alleged role in the case were revealed. He was taken into custody in Britain in 2019 and remains there, despite losing an extradition appeal.

Last week, a Pakistani-born Canadian businessman, accused of assisting in the orchestration of the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, arrived in New Delhi after being extradited by the US in what marks the first such transfer in a terrorism case.