In a significant development for Indian investigative companies, a Belgian court on Friday promoted the arrest and authorized the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi to India. The court choice brings India one action better to reviving a main figure in the notorious Punjab National Bank (PNB) rip-off, which shook the country in 2018. This advancement follows Choksi’s remarkable worldwide run from India to the Caribbean, mystical kidnappings, claims of honeytraps and lastly his arrest in Belgium, completely a best plot product for a Netflix thriller.
Here is an in-depth account of how Choksi came under the scanner, averted arrest for several years, and now deals with the possibility of trial in Indian courts.
Check out: Belgian court orders Mehul Choksi’s extradition to India
How all of it began
Choksi, when a popular figure in India’s diamond market and owner of Gitanjali Gems, was called as one of the primary implicated in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank scams case in 2018. Together with his nephew Nirav Modi, who remains in a London prison, Choksi presumably managed an enormous monetary rip-off including the abuse of Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) provided fraudulently by particular PNB authorities at a Mumbai branch.
These instruments were utilized to unlawfully protect credit from abroad branches of Indian banks without appropriate security, and the cash was siphoned off by Choksi, Modi, their business, and accomplices. The scale and audacity of the rip-off activated across the country outrage, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) released full-blown probes.
In 2018, both Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi were reserved under charges consisting of criminal conspiracy, unfaithful, corruption, and cash laundering. While Modi got away to the UK and stays in a London jail waiting for extradition, Choksi’s course was more remarkable and complicated.
Flight from India and the Caribbean adventure
Choksi left India in January 2018, simply weeks before the rip-off ended up being public. He initially went to the United States and after that settled in Antigua and Barbuda, where he had actually silently acquired citizenship in 2017 under the nation’s Citizenship by Investment program. This pre-emptive relocation raised eyebrows, recommending that he might have expected legal difficulty.
Choksi preserved that he had actually not done anything incorrect which the claims versus him were politically inspired. Antigua became his safe house, till it didn’t.
His peaceful life in Antigua concerned an end in May 2021 under strange and remarkable situations. He unexpectedly vanished from the island on May 23. Days later on, he was discovered in Dominica, another Caribbean island, where he was apprehended for prohibited entry. The case turned complete stranger with each discovery.
Choksi declared he was abducted by a group of 8-10 males, some supposedly of Indian origin, who he stated beat and tasered him, connected him up, and carried him by boat from Antigua to Dominica. He declared the participation of a female called Barbara Jabarica, whom he had actually grown near over numerous months.
According to Choksi, Barbara welcomed him to her house, differing their typical public meetups. As soon as there, he declared, he was assailed by muscular guys who beat him with tasers, gagged him, connected him to a wheelchair and transferred him onto a boat.
In his grievance to Antiguan cops, Choksi mentioned that the lady made no effort to assist him, indicating her complicity in the supposed kidnapping. He even more declared that he was later on moved to a bigger boat where he was informed that he was being sent out to satisfy a “high-ranking Indian political leader,” which his “citizenship would be repaired in Dominica” before being deported to India.
The Dominica High Court did not authorize his deportation, and he was ultimately launched after charges of unlawful entry were dropped.
Political ripples in the Caribbean
Choksi’s arrest in Dominica in May 2021 made headings and stimulated political storms in both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. His abrupt disappearance from Antigua and reappearance in Dominica under suspicious scenarios raised major concerns and stimulated a wave of speculation.
Dominican opposition leader Lennox Linton came under the spotlight after reports declared that Chetan Choksi, Mehul’s sibling, had actually flown in on a personal jet and satisfied Linton at his home. The report declared a two-hour conference where Chetan turned over $200,000 as token cash, guaranteeing more in exchange for political assistance and raising the Choksi problem in Parliament. It declared that Linton had actually stayed quiet on the matter till that conference and started assaulting the federal government right after.
Linton highly rejected the claims in a video declaration, stating: “I do not know Chetan Choksi. I have never seen him. I have never spoken to him.” He called the claims produced and politically encouraged.
The occurrence triggered humiliation for the Dominican federal government, which was implicated by critics of teaming up with Indian companies for a hidden deportation. At the very same time, Antigua dealt with internal criticism for not acting faster to withdraw Choksi’s citizenship and avoid his escape. The whole episode exposed how a fugitive’s existence might affect political stories, stir diplomatic stress and emphasize vulnerabilities in Caribbean countries’ citizenship and legal systems.
The last act in Belgium
In April 2025, in an advancement that captured lots of by surprise, Choksi was apprehended in Antwerp, Belgium, supposedly where he had actually chosen medical treatment. Performing on a Red Notice from Interpol and a demand from the Indian federal government, Belgian authorities took him into custody on April 12.
Choksi was produced before a Belgian court, which on October 17, 2025, promoted his arrest and approved approval for extradition to India. While Choksi can appeal the choice within 15 days, Indian authorities have actually hailed the judgment as a significant success. A CBI group is prepared to take a trip to Belgium to bring him back, pending the last court choice.
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