Kumar Bahukhandi
Mehul Choksi: Diamond traders Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi are wanted in India for economic crimes and India has been trying to bring them back for a long time. Nirav Modi is in a UK jail and is trying to avoid extradition by resorting to legal options.
Efforts to bring fugitive Mehul Choksi, wanted in the PNB scam, to the dock of Indian law have intensified. India’s extradition application to get custody of the diamond trader arrested in Belgium has reached Belgium. Action on this case is expected to start soon.
The Justice Department of the Belgian government told media that Mehul Choksi was arrested on 12 April 2025 as part of the possible legal process. He was arrested from the Cape last Saturday on April 12 , 2025 . The Belgian Federal Public Service of Justice said in its response that an extradition request has been sent for him by the Government of India. However, citing the pending legal process, officials said that nothing more can be said about this right now. Belgian officials said that Mehul will also get a chance to present his side.
Diamond traders Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi are wanted in India for economic crimes and India has been trying to bring them back for a long time. While Nirav Modi is in a UK jail and is trying to avoid extradition by resorting to legal options, Mehul Choksi, who fled from India to Antigua-Barbuda, has also been trying to escape the clutches of Indian agencies for the last seven years.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of crores of rupees. Instead of answering these allegations while staying in India, Choksi and Nirav Modi fled the country along with their families. Choksi was also caught in the Dominican Republic earlier. India had also filed a legal application to obtain his custody. But with the help of lawyers, Choksi escaped the clutches of Indian agencies.
According to reports, Mehul Choksi was trying to obtain a residency card in Belgium with the help of fake documents. Fugitive Choksi also allegedly concealed information about his Indian and Antiguan citizenship in Belgium. However, India had already warned European countries about Choksi’s possible moves.
Earlier in February, Choksi’s lawyer told a Mumbai court that he could not return to India as he was in Belgium for treatment of blood cancer. The fugitive businessman has said that he is ready to cooperate with Indian agencies and appear in courts through video conferencing. However, India has rejected this proposal and the agencies are engaged in the process of his extradition.
What is the case related to Mehul Choksi?
Mehul Choksi’s name first came to light in 2018, when a special PMLA court issued a non-bailable warrant against Choksi and his nephews Nirav Modi and Neeshal Modi.
It is alleged that Nirav and Mehul, in collusion with some officials of Punjab National Bank (PNB), defrauded the bank of about Rs 13,000 crore. This is said to be the biggest scam in banking history.
These people, with the help of officials of PNB’s Brady House branch in Fort, Mumbai, took money from the bank on loan through fake Letters of Undertakings (LoU) and transferred it abroad.
The accused fraudulently showed the duration of the LoU to be one year and imported expensive jewelery, whereas according to the guidelines of the Reserve Bank, their duration can be only 90 days, after which loan repayment is necessary.
Indian banks’ branches abroad violated RBI guidelines. They failed to provide documents on the basis of which loans were obtained from them abroad.
