How CBI nailed Choksi

After a failed attempt to get Mehul Choksi deported from Dominica in 2021, where he was taken mysteriously from Antigua and Barbuda — he had become a citizen after fleeing India — the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) kept a continuous watch on the fugitive.

- Neeraj Chauhan

NEW DELHI:

The agency's global operations centre (GOC), which geolocates Indian fugitives abroad, tracked Choksi in July 2024 in Antwerp, where he went for medical treatment. While India had no extradition treaty with Dominica and the only option was to get him deported from there, New Delhi and Brussels have had a treaty since 1901, so CBI didn't want to take any chances this time and decided to move quickly.

According to a CBI officer, who didn't want to be named, a detailed extradition request listing evidence of embezzlement, destruction of evidence, corruption, forgery, etc against the fugitive diamantaire was sent to Belgium's justice ministry (also known as the federal public service of justice) on August 27, 2024. Attached to this were charge sheets and non-bailable warrants issued by a Mumbai court on May 23, 2018, and June 15, 2021.