Absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi has been detained in Belgium following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies for his alleged involvement in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank loan 'fraud' case, official sources said Monday. The action against the diamantaire was taken on Saturday. Sources said that after the Interpol Red Notice against him for arrest was "deleted", Indian agencies, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, moved for his extradition from Belgium.
Choksi, his nephew and fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi and their family members and employees, bank officials and others were booked by the two agencies in 2018 for perpetrating the alleged loan fraud at the Brady House branch of PNB in Mumbai.
ED alleged that Choksi, his firm Gitanjali Gems and others "committed the offence of cheating against Punjab National Bank in connivance with certain bank officials by fraudulently getting the LOUs (letters of undertaking) issued and got the FLCs (foreign letter of credit) enhanced without following prescribed procedure and caused a wrongful loss to the bank." The ED has filed three charge sheets against Choksi till now. The CBI too has filed similar charge sheets against him.
The fugitive jeweller fled India in 2018 and secured citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda. But intelligence inputs last month indicated that he and his wife were residing in Antwerp. Investigators say Choksi used forged documents to hide his Indian and Antiguan identities while seeking residency in Belgium.
(Inputs from PTI)
