New Delhi: A day after it was reported that fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi has gone missing from Antigua, PM Gaston Browne hinted that Mehul Choksi has not fled the country and is in Antigua only. Browne said that it is not possible to go to Cuba within 36 hours. “If indeed he has fled, it would have been possible by boat but they have no such information”, he added.
Note that Choksi is wanted by several agencies in India and accused in PNB fraud. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also taken report of missing.
Lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said, “I have received this information late at night. I had spoken to him last week and we discussed only legal matters. His missing reports are genuine as otherwise there was no legal risk to Mehul Choksi in Antigua”.
“We don’t have any reliable information to date to confirm that he has fled the country. It is likely that he may still be here and law enforcement is utilizing all efforts, including all intelligence to locate him. Choksi is fighting two cases in Antigua – extradition and revocation of his citizenship. If it is true that Choksi has fled the country, then we could get judgement in absentia and we will revoke his citizenship in due course,” Browne added.
Worth mentioning here is that Antigua and Barbuda have been seriously pursuing Mehul Choksi’s extradition in the court of law. On Monday, the island’s prime Minister gaston Browne spoke to PM Narendra Modi.
Antiguan police have already launched a manhunt after he was rumored to have become untraceable under suspicious circumstances. Later, the police found his empty car near a restaurant in the southern part of the island. The fugitive businessman had gone to the restaurant for dinner on Sunday evening and was not seen since then.
For the unversed, Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. While Nirav Modi is in a London prison after repeated denial of bail and is contesting extradition to India, Choksi had taken the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme, before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018.