Working closely with Belgian government to extradite Mehul Choksi: MEA

Mehul Choksi was arrested in Belgium on April 12 following a request from Indian authorities and is being detained in “anticipation of further judicial proceedings

Published on: Apr 17, 2025, 21:56:58 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said it is working closely with the Belgian government to extradite fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi so that he can face trial in the country.

On Mehul Choksi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said New Delhi was closely working with the Belgian side for his extradition to India so that he can face trial in the country. (PTI)

Choksi was arrested in Belgium on April 12 following a request from Indian authorities and is being detained in “anticipation of further judicial proceedings”, the Belgian federal public service of justice said this week.

“As you are aware, based on our extradition request, [Choksi] was arrested in Belgium. We are closely working with the Belgian side for his extradition to India so that he can face trial in the country,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a weekly media briefing without giving details.

The Belgian federal public service of justice, the equivalent of the justice ministry, has confirmed the receipt of an extradition request for Choksi from Indian authorities.

Choksi has been living in Belgium to seek medical treatment since he left Antigua and Barbuda last year. During a visit to New Delhi in March, Antigua and Barbuda foreign minister Chet Greene said Choksi remains a citizen of the Caribbean nation. He also said Choksi’s citizenship was undergoing a legal review.

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 It was withdrawn in November 2022 after Choksi approached Interpol, alleging Indian agents abducted him from Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021 on a yacht to Dominica.

Indian authorities have alleged Choksi was the mastermind of a ₹13,578 crore loan fraud and owed ₹7,080 crore to state-owned PNB.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
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.Read More

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