Fugitive diamond tycoon accuses Indian government of 'orchestrating his kidnapping' in Antigua in bid to extradite him over alleged bank fraud
A fugitive diamond dealer accused India of orchestrating his kidnapping to extradite him on fraud allegations, the High Court in London has heard.
The claim is a the centre of a legal case brought forward by Mehul Choksi, 66, who is wanted in India over his alleged involvement in one of India's biggest bank frauds at Punjab National Bank.
In 2018, the bank announced it had discovered alleged fraud worth $1.8 billion.
The Indian government has since sought to extradite Choksi - who was arrested in Belgium in April – to face the charges alongside his nephew Nirav Modi, who has been in custody in Britain since 2019. The pair deny any wrongdoing.
Choksi is separately suing the Indian government in London, arguing that the state was responsible for his kidnapping in Antigua in 2021, when he says he was abducted and taken to Dominica in an attempt to extradite him to India.
His lawyers told the court that only India had the motivation and resources to do so.
The court was told he kidnapped from the island of Antigua and taken by yacht to Dominica as part of a plot to return him to India in May 2021, the Times reports.
As well as suing the Indian government, he is suing the beautiful woman he says lured him into a trap and the four men he claims masterminded the operation in London.
Five UK-based conspirators were named by Antigua police as Gurdip Bath, Barbara Jarabik, Leslie Farrow-Guy, Gurmit Singh and Gurjit Singh Bhandal following an investigation into the alleagtions. They all deny wrongdoing.
Bath, 49, a diplomat representing the Caribbean islands of St Kitts and Nevis in India, is alleged to be the head of the operation.
The Indian citizen is understood to have an £8 million mansion in Mayfair.
Jarabik, 35, is a Hungarian luxury goods expert who was living in England and Farrow-Guy, 70, is a British citizen from Grays, Essex. Singh and Bhandal are both from Birmingham.
The court heard that Choksi first met Jarabik in Antigua in August 2020 and in May 2021 she is alleged to have invited him to visit her luxury apartment she rented near his home in Jolly Harbour.
However, a group of men burst into the apartment while Choksi was inside and told him he was 'being detained to be interrogated by Indian agencies', the court was told.
Choksi's lawyer Edward said he was 'brutally beaten' including being 'punched, tasered to the face, blindfolded, tied to a wheelchair and gagged.'
It was alleged that when Choksi was knocked unconsciousness and when came to he was still tied to the wheelchair and on board a yacht called Calliope of Arnes.
Singh and Bhandal allegedly claimed to be agents for India's foreign intelligence service in the 'research and analysis' department.
The court was told they filmed an interview with Choksi about the fraud allegations, telling him to point the finger at members of the Congress opposition party.
Meanwhile Bath, Jarabik, and Farrow-Guy met the prime minister of Antigua before taking a private jet to Dominica, it was claimed.
The prime minister allegedly said he would revoke Choksi's citizenship.
Choksi was taken from the yacht by the Dominican coastguard vessel, it was alleged, before an official from the Indian high commission applied for Dominica to extradition.
However, he was freed on bail two months later and returned to Antigua.
Mr Fitzgerald told the court: 'The evidence points inevitably to India being behind this – they had the motivation, they had the resources.'
India has denied involvement in any kidnap and argues it is protected by state immunity, saying the case should not be heard in the UK.
India's lawyer Harish Salve said in court filings that 'there is no evidence of India having anything to do with the alleged events'.
Harish Salve KC, representing the Indian government, said: '[Choksi's] account is rife with non sequiturs and unsupported assumptions.'
He added that the alleged members of the kidnap plot were a 'rather unlikely band of state-sponsored conspirators'.
Singh was described as as a retired ironworks' foundryman and Bhandal a former forklift driver who lives with his parents.
Farrow-Guy was named as Bath's former driver who now lives in sheltered accommodation.
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