MEHUL CHOKSI: RISE, FRAUD AND PURSUIT

Although Nirav Modi was the face of the scam, investigators alleged that Mehul Choksi played a parallel role.

- TDG NETWORK

Choksi's Gitanjali Group controlled multiple subsidiaries, and its employees were arrested along with those of Modi's firms. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached 41 properties valued at about Rs 1,210 crore belonging to Choksi and his firms. These included flats and offices in Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, a farmhouse in Alibaug and hundreds of acres of land in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

On October 17-22, 2025, Belgium's Antwerp Court of Appeal approved the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi to India in the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, rejecting his arguments about political persecution, abduction, and unfair trial risk.

The ruling says the offences are extraditable under both Belgian and Indian law; Choksi has up to 15 days to move Belgium's Supreme Court. Indian agencies have already shown the court photos and specifications of Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail (Barrack No. 12) to address prison-condition concerns.

The Antwerp decision is the most decisive breakthrough in India’s seven-year pursuit of Choksi, arrested in Antwerp in April 2025, after years of stalling moves from Antigua & Barbuda and the removal of an Interpol Red Notice in 2023. If the appeal window closes without relief, authorities say Choksi will be flown to Mumbai and lodged in Arthur Road Jail to face coordinated CBI/ED prosecutions tied to fraudulent Letters of Undertaking issued from PNB's Brady House branch.

Mehul Chinubhai Choksi was born on 5 May 1959 in Bombay (now Mumbai) to a Gujarati jeweller family. He studied at G.D. Modi College in Palanpur, Gujarat. In the 1970s, he joined his father’s diamond business and, by 1985, took over the leadership of what would become the Gitanjali Group. Choksi’s younger brother Chetan owned Diminco NV in Antwerp, while his nephew Nirav Modi would later become India’s most famous diamond merchant.