NEW DELHI: The name of the fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi wanted in a scam of Rs 13,000 at Punjab National Bank understood to have been removed from the list interpolate Red Notice’s database on the basis of his plea to the Lyon-based agency, people familiar with the development said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remains tight-lipped about the development.
The red notice is the highest form of alert issued by Interpol of 195 member countries to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or deportation. similar legal action.
Request consultation from CBI and its legal team choksi still unanswered.
Interpol issued a Red Notice against Choksi in 2018, nearly 10 months after he fled India in January of that year to seek asylum in Antigua and Barbuda, where he naturalized.
Sources said Choksi challenged the CBI’s application for a Red Notice against him, calling the incident the result of a political conspiracy. He has also questioned issues such as prison conditions in India, his personal safety and health, they added.
Sources said the matter was taken to the court of the five-member Interpol committee, known as the Records Control Committee, which cleared the RCN (Red Notice) dismissing his disputes.
The CBI has separately charged both Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi in the fraud.
The agency, in its charges, alleged that Choksi scammed Rs 7,080.86 crore, making it one of the largest bank scams in the country with over Rs 13,000 crore. Nirav Modi allegedly siphoned off Rs 6,000 crore. An additional default of more than Rs 5,000 crore against Choksi companies is also an issue being investigated by the CBI.
Choksi disappeared from his sanctuary in Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021 to mysteriously reappear in neighboring Dominica, where he was detained for illegal entry.
After news of Choksi’s detention in Dominica emerged, India sent a team of officials led by CBI DIG Sharda Raut tried their best to bring him back on the basis of Interpol’s Red Notice against him.
His lawyer in London, Michael Polak, who filed a complaint with Scotland Yard, said Choksi had been deported from Antigua and Barbuda, where as a citizen he had access to the Institutional Council. Queen of England as a last resort in his citizenship and extradition cases. to Dominica where these rights were not available to him.
India’s attempt to bring Choksi back was unsuccessful as his lawyers promptly filed a request for habeas corpus in the Dominican Supreme Court, which was accepted for trial.
Their swift legal maneuvering coupled with the investigation of his disappearance from Antigua thwarted India’s efforts to deport Choksi from Dominica.
After 51 days in prison, Choksi, 62, was released on bail by the Dominican Supreme Court in July 2021 to return to Antigua to seek medical help from a neurologist based there with provision that he would return to court when medically cleared. .
Thereafter, all proceedings against Choksi for illegally entering Dominica were cancelled.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remains tight-lipped about the development.
The red notice is the highest form of alert issued by Interpol of 195 member countries to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or deportation. similar legal action.
Request consultation from CBI and its legal team choksi still unanswered.
Interpol issued a Red Notice against Choksi in 2018, nearly 10 months after he fled India in January of that year to seek asylum in Antigua and Barbuda, where he naturalized.
Sources said Choksi challenged the CBI’s application for a Red Notice against him, calling the incident the result of a political conspiracy. He has also questioned issues such as prison conditions in India, his personal safety and health, they added.
Sources said the matter was taken to the court of the five-member Interpol committee, known as the Records Control Committee, which cleared the RCN (Red Notice) dismissing his disputes.
The CBI has separately charged both Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi in the fraud.
The agency, in its charges, alleged that Choksi scammed Rs 7,080.86 crore, making it one of the largest bank scams in the country with over Rs 13,000 crore. Nirav Modi allegedly siphoned off Rs 6,000 crore. An additional default of more than Rs 5,000 crore against Choksi companies is also an issue being investigated by the CBI.
Choksi disappeared from his sanctuary in Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021 to mysteriously reappear in neighboring Dominica, where he was detained for illegal entry.
After news of Choksi’s detention in Dominica emerged, India sent a team of officials led by CBI DIG Sharda Raut tried their best to bring him back on the basis of Interpol’s Red Notice against him.
His lawyer in London, Michael Polak, who filed a complaint with Scotland Yard, said Choksi had been deported from Antigua and Barbuda, where as a citizen he had access to the Institutional Council. Queen of England as a last resort in his citizenship and extradition cases. to Dominica where these rights were not available to him.
India’s attempt to bring Choksi back was unsuccessful as his lawyers promptly filed a request for habeas corpus in the Dominican Supreme Court, which was accepted for trial.
Their swift legal maneuvering coupled with the investigation of his disappearance from Antigua thwarted India’s efforts to deport Choksi from Dominica.
After 51 days in prison, Choksi, 62, was released on bail by the Dominican Supreme Court in July 2021 to return to Antigua to seek medical help from a neurologist based there with provision that he would return to court when medically cleared. .
Thereafter, all proceedings against Choksi for illegally entering Dominica were cancelled.
