Mehul Choksi arrested in Belgium on India’s request for extradition

New Delhi: Fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi, wanted in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, has been arrested by Belgian authorities, according to the reports. The arrest, made at the request of Indian agencies including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), follows non-bailable warrants issued against him by Mumbai courts.

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.

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