PNB scam: Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi arrested in Belgium

New Delhi. Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam’s main accused and fugitive diamond businessman Mehul Choksi has been arrested in Belgium. He was arrested from a hospital in Belgium on 12 April. It is being said that Choksi has been arrested on the request of Indian investigative agencies.

Ever since the ED and CBI started trying to extradite Choksi, he was undergoing treatment in the hospital a few days after that. According to sources, efforts will be made to bring Choksi to India. However, Choksi can still use legal tactics in the Belgian court, so the legal battle will take some time.

A request was made to Belgium for Choksi’s extradition in September 2024. But at that time, Choksi’s lawyers had said that their client’s health is not good and he is suffering from blood cancer, so his extradition cannot happen. After this, ED officials told the court that if he can go from Antigua to Belgium for treatment, then he can also go to India for treatment. Belgian police arrested him after the extradition request of ED and CBI.

Mehul Choksi is the main accused in the multi-crore PNB scam. This scam is worth more than Rs 13,500 crore. Choksi has been living in Antigua since 2018. ED has filed three chargesheets against Choksi. In 2019, ED had told the Bombay High Court that Choksi is ‘fugitive and absconding’.

Choksi fled India after the PNB scam came to light in 2018. Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi is also an accused in the scam and is facing extradition proceedings in London.

There were also reports of Choksi’s disappearance from Antigua in May 2021, but later it was reported that he was in Dominica. The CBI had appealed to Interpol to issue a red corner notice against Mehul Choksi. After this, in 2018, Interpol issued a red notice against Choksi. A petition was filed by Choksi in Interpol to remove the red notice. In this, he claimed that in 2021 Indian investigative agencies had ‘abducted’ him and taken him to Dominica. For this reason, Interpol has decided to remove the red notice against him.

In 2018, the ED had temporarily attached 41 immovable properties of Choksi worth Rs 1,217 crore. The properties seized include his two flats in a posh area of ​​Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, 27 acres of land on the Mumbai-Goa highway, 101 acres of land in Tamil Nadu, lands in Nashik, Nagpur, Andhra Pradesh, two bungalows in Allabaug and office in Surat.