Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, who was arrested in Belgium on Saturday, will move an appeal for release from custody on medical grounds, his counsel Vijay Aggarwal said on Monday.
Choksi, 65, who is wanted by Indian authorities in the Rs 13,850 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, was taken into custody after Belgian authorities confirmed his presence in the country.
While India gears up for a renewed extradition effort, Choksi’s legal team has initiated a fresh defence citing his health condition and cancer treatment.
“My client, Mehul Choksi, has been arrested in Belgium, and at the moment, he is in custody. We will be starting the process of filing an appeal against this, and then, as a process of appeal, we will be requesting that he be pulled out of prison. The major ground for the plea is his ill health and that he is undergoing cancer treatment, and of course, he is not a flight risk at all,” Aggarwal told ANI in Delhi.
Choksi, who fled India on 2 January 2018, is a key accused in the massive banking fraud alongside his nephew Nirav Modi. While Indian authorities have been pursuing his return, previous attempts to bring him back from Dominica were unsuccessful.
“There is no push. It is a process. Non-bailable warrants have been issued against him since 2018. It is a prerequisite for extradition that there has to be an open-ended, non-bailable warrant,” Aggarwal said.
Also read: Mehul Choksi arrested in Belgium on India’s extradition plea
He added, “Earlier, they tried to pick him up from Dominica, where they failed. So then, by the Dominican court order, my client was getting his treatment in Antigua. For his medical treatment, he had to go to Belgium, and he has been there getting his treatment for the cancer. Arrest is a process. Whenever for any country, there is an extradition request made by another country wherein they have a treaty. First of all, the person has to be arrested, then the person has to show that he's got community ties, and then we have to show that he is not a flight risk and that there is a medical condition. So that's the only ground.”
Despite India's extradition efforts, experts caution that bringing Choksi back will be no easy task. Hariprasad SV, whistle-blower in the Punjab National Bank scam, warned that Choksi will likely employ some of the best legal minds in Europe to delay proceedings, drawing comparisons with the lengthy legal battles of Vijay Mallya.
“Extradition is not an easy task. Choksi's wallet is full, and he will employ the best lawyers in Europe to avoid the process like what Vijay Maliya has been doing. I don't think it is going to be easy for India to get him back,” Hariprasad told ANI.
He also pointed out that Choksi had allegedly duped over 100 franchisees, many of whom have filed cases against him across various Indian cities. “The legal system in India is undoubtedly very great, but the extradition process depends on the country we are dealing with. This case is not going to be easy, as he has so much money,” he added.
As the legal battle unfolds in Belgium, Indian agencies remain firm in their pursuit of justice in one of the country’s largest financial scandals.
Follow us
