Dominica drops illegal entry case against fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi

Mehul Choksi had gone missing from Antigua on May 23, 2021 and was caught in Dominica. He was charged with illegal entry by the police in Dominica.

File photo (Credits: PTI)

New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi on Saturday got relief from the Commonwealth of Dominica where he was charged with illegal entry by the police as the prosecution of Dominica decided to withdraw/discontinue the legal proceedings in the illegal entry case against him.

"Choksi is pleased that the Dominican Government has today dropped all charges against him for unlawful entry in May 2021. By doing so they now recognise that there was never any case against him. Choksi was forcibly removed from Antigua against his will by agents of the Indian State, viciously assaulted, and taken to Dominica by boat, where he was again unlawfully handed over to authorities for an offence he never committed," the statement of Choksi issued by his spokesperson read. 

"Choksi`s legal team continue to pursue all avenues for justice to redress the human rights violations committed against him. Choksi hopes that those responsible for his kidnapping from Antigua on May 23,2021 will be brought to justice," the statement added.

Director of Public Prosecutions (AG) in a reply filed on May 17, 2022, to Magistrate Court, said, "Mehul Chinubhai Choksi` was charged, for that he, on the 24th day of May 2021 at Toucarie Bay, Toucarie in the Parish of St John, in the Commonwealth of Dominica, did enter illegally into the Commonwealth of Dominica at a place to wit `Toucarie Bay, Toucarie` not approved as a point of entry."

The reply of the Director of Prosecutions further stated, "In accordance with the provisions of Section 72(2) (c) of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Dominica, I do hereby discontinue the above-mentioned proceedings against the said, Mehul Chinubhai Choksi."

After the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Choksi`s lawyer Advocate Vijay Aggarwal told ANI, "Truth always comes out in the end, no matter how hard anyone tries to stop it or hide it. Lies are just temporary delays to the inevitable. It was extremely insensitive for some people to call injuries on my client Mehul Choksi to be fake because of some legal strategy."

Earlier, while Dominica High Court granted interim bail to Choksi on the medical grounds, his lawyer had said that all pending proceedings related to illegal entry against Mehul Choksi will be kept in abeyance till he gets medically fit to come back to Dominica.

"But according to us, that was not an illegal entry matter, it was a forceful entry case," he had said.

Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi who had gone missing from Antigua on May 23, 2021, was soon caught in Dominica. He was charged with illegal entry by the police in Dominica.

The 62-year-old fugitive is wanted in India in connection with a Rs 13,500-crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB).