New Delhi : Global police body Interpol issued a red corner notice against fugitive offender Mehul Choksi, wanted in the 13,000-crore bank fraud case, on Thursday. The Interpol arrest warrant came on a CBI request.
The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a charge sheet against him in a Mumbai court. Authorities in Antigua are now likely to trace him and inform India. Mr Choksi’s movements will be tracked and he won’t be allowed to leave the country.
The 59-year-old had left India in January for medical treatment in the US. Mr Choksi was last traced to Antigua, where he has been granted citizenship. He had taken the oath of allegiance as a citizen of Antigua on January 15 and just days later, on January 29, the CBI filed a case and started investigating Mr Choksi and Nirav Modi. Sources say, the Interpol had issued the notice against Mr Choksi about a fortnight ago after a decision was taken by the Commission for the Control of Interpol Files in a meeting in October.
Last month, Mr Choksi’s lawyer told the investigating agencies that he is not in a position to record his statement. “If his condition gets better” Mr Choksi may return to India, the lawyer had said. In July, the Interpol had issued a similar notice against Nirav Modi, the main accused in the bank fraud cases.
Mr Choksi and his nephew, celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi, are being sought by multiple investigating agencies after it was revealed that the two extracted crores in loans from banks abroad on the basis of fake guarantees in the name of Punjab National Bank, India’s second largest state-owned bank. India is eyeing to bring back Mr Choksi from Antigua under the provision of a law of the island nation, which provides for extradition of a fugitive to a designated Commonwealth country, official sources said.
The government issued a gazette notification on August 3 to make the Antiguan law enforceable and bring back Mr Choksi. India and Antigua do not have a bilateral extradition pact.
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