New Delhi: Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, arrested in Belgium on April 12 following a request from Indian authorities, is being detained in “anticipation of further judicial proceedings”, the Belgian federal public service of justice said on Monday.
Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi. (File Photo)
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The Belgian federal public service of justice, which is the equivalent of the justice ministry, confirmed the arrest and the receipt of an extradition request for Choksi from Indian authorities.
“He [Choksi] is being detained in anticipation of further judicial proceedings. Access to his legal counsel has been assured,” the federal public service of justice told HT.
The “Belgian federal public service of Justice can confirm that the Indian authorities have introduced an extradition request for Mr Choksi. As is standard in individual cases, no further details can be released at this stage,” it said.
A spokesperson for the Belgian office of public prosecution said Choksi was arrested in Antwerp. “We can confirm that Mr Choksi was arrested in Antwerp last Saturday at our request,” the spokesperson said without giving details.
Choksi, who has been living in Belgium since he left Antigua and Barbuda last year, was arrested on India’s request, people familiar with the matter said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) requested Belgian authorities to arrest Choksi last year, before sending an extradition request.
Choksi’s lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, told a Mumbai court in February that his client was in Belgium for medical treatment. The court was hearing the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea to declare Choksi a fugitive under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA).
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An officer, who didn’t want to be named, said Choksi’s bail would take time even as the CBI is in touch with Belgian authorities to execute the extradition request.
During a visit to New Delhi in March, Antigua and Barbuda foreign minister Chet Greene said Choksi remains a citizen of the Caribbean nation, though he had left the country for medical treatment. He also said the matter of Choksi’s citizenship was undergoing a legal review.
“[The Indian] government and my government are working together on this matter. We have some traditions in democracy. We both respect the rule of law. The matter of Mehul Choksi has been subjected to a legal review,” Greene told theANI news agency. “Until such time it is reviewed and determined, there is nothing I can say.”
Choksi is wanted in India in a Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. An Interpol red notice was issued against him in 2018. It was withdrawn in November 2022 after Choksi approached Interpol, alleging Indian agents abducted him from Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021 on a yacht to Dominica.
The Indian government flew in a team of investigators to secure his deportation from Dominica, where he was not a citizen. Choksi filed a petition in the Dominican high court alleging abduction and torture.
Prosecutors appearing for India filed a request in Dominica in June 2021, alleging that Choksi was the mastermind of a ₹13,578 crore loan fraud and owed ₹7,080 crore ($952 million) to state-owned PNB. They sought to declare him an Indian citizen and deport him.
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Choksi’s capture caused a political storm in the Caribbean, with opposition parties accusing the governments of Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda of colluding with India to abduct the businessman.
Antigua Royal Police investigated the alleged abduction based on the complaint from Choksi’s lawyers. Their findings mirrored Choksi’s allegations.
Dominica, which initiated illegal entry proceedings against Choksi, withdrew its case and sent him back to Antigua and Barbuda on July 15, 2021.
The CBI has filed three more cases against Choksi for allegedly cheating banks, including ICICI Bank, of ₹6,746 crore. The ED is conducting a parallel money laundering probe against Choksi. It has attached his properties worth over ₹2,500 crore and initiated their restitution.
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.
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Home/India News/In first statement, Belgium says Mehul Choksi detained for further judicial proceeding
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