`No question of Mehul Choksi`s deportation to India`, says fugitive diamantaire`s counsel Vijay Aggarwal

`Legally, as per Section 17 and 23 of the Immigration and Passport Act, Mehul Choksi can only be deported to Antigua,` his lawyer said.

New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi’s lawyer has denied the possibility of his client being directly deported to India. 

“Legally, as per Section 17 and 23 of the Immigration and Passport Act, Mehul Choksi can only be deported to Antigua,” Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, Counsel for Choksi told ANI. 

"As per the Indian Citizenship Act, Section 9, the moment Mehul Choksi acquired the citizenship of Antigua, he ceased to be a Citizen of India. Hence, legally, as per Immigration and Passport Act Section 17 and 23, he can be deported only to Antigua,” Aggarwal added. 

Further, Choksi’s counsel reiterated there is no question of the diamantaire’s repatriation directly to India, adding that he does not think Choksi reaching Dominica was "voluntary". 

"Moreover, as there is Antiguan High Court order restraining processing any request from India, my understanding is that he has to be sent back to Antigua only and there is no question of him being sent to India. There should be no speculation till one finds out from Mehul Choksi how he landed up in Dominica. My understanding is that his reaching Dominica is not voluntary,” Aggarwal stated. 

His lawyer said that no one was paying attention to how Chokshi reached Dominica which Aggarwal said he finds “fishy”. “It has to be done legally”, Choksi`s lawyer said.

He asserted that Choksi can only be deported to Antigua where he has legal citizenship. "We are dealing with a human being. Not a pawn that can be placed here or there and it cannot be on somebody`s desires and whims. Further, as per universal declaration of human rights there are international covenants on voluntary repatriation and a person can be deported to only the country of their citizenship," Aggarwal was quoted as saying by the news agency. 

In an exclusive interview with WION on Wednesday (May 26), Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne had said that Mehul Choksi could be sent back to India in the next 48 hours from Dominica where he was captured while trying to flee.

PM Browne said, "Assuming no legal impediments, I believe within the next 48 hours Choksi could be perhaps in a private jet, you know, repatriated to India."

Choksi is wanted in India in connection with the Rs 13,5000-crore Punjab National Bank loan fraud case. 

(With ANI inputs)