Dominica court rejects Mehul Choksi’s bail plea on illegal entry into Dominica

A magistrate court in Dominica has rejected the bail application of fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi in connection with the illegal entry into the country. Choksi has now been sent to the hospital for treatment of the injuries sustained by him under police protection. On Wednesday, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) directed that Choksi be produced before a magistrate in connection with a case related to his illegal entry into the Caribbean island nation. 

The High Court’s direction came when it was hearing Choksi’s plea against deportation to India. The Dominican Public Prosecution Service has told the ESCS that Choksi should be deported to India as his plea is not maintainable. Choksi’s lawyers have argued that he is not a citizen of India as Article 9 of the Indian Constitution states that any person who acquires citizenship of a foreign country, He will automatically cease to be a citizen of India. The High Court will resume the hearing of the case on Thursday. Choksi is accused of defrauding the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) to the tune of Rs 13,600 crore.

He is out of India since 7 January 2018, a few days before the PNB scam came to light. On 15 January 2018, he took the oath of citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda. Choksi went missing on May 23 in Antigua and Barbuda. The next day, he was caught by Dominica’s local police, allegedly when he arrived on a boat. Following this, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said his government had “particularly” requested Dominica to “make necessary arrangements for Indian law enforcement agencies to return him (Choksi) directly to India”

. . However, Choksi’s legal team has claimed that the 62-year-old businessman did not flee from Antigua, but was abducted by laying a honey trap. According to his lawyers, Choksi was friends with a woman in the last six months, Who was called to an apartment in Antigua on May 23 and was abducted from there by a group of men. He was then allegedly beaten up and forced into a yacht before being taken to Dominica. .