Latest news with #Choksi
Time of India
11 hours ago
- Time of India
Mehul Choksi sues India in UK high court for ‘kidnapping him' in Antigua
Mehul Choksi LONDON: Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi is suing the Indian govt and five other people in the London high court for orchestrating what he refers to as his 'kidnapping' from Antigua in 2021 in an alleged honeytrap plot. Choksi has claimed in the preliminary hearing that five people working for R&AW kidnapped him in Antigua and smuggled him on a yacht to Dominica in a plot masterminded by the Indian state in order to extradite him to India to face charges in the Rs 13,500 Punjab National Bank scam. Antigua police named Gurdip Bath, Barbara Jarabik, Gurmit Singh, Gurjit Singh Bhandal and Leslie Farrow-Guy as the five suspects, mostly UK-based, in the kidnapping. They are all being sued by Choksi alongside the Indian govt. They all deny the charges. The court documents were served on the ministry of external affairs by the British high commission in New Delhi. Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Choksi (66), told Justice Freedman on Monday that Choksi was filing a civil suit against the Indian govt for allegedly ordering Choksi to be kidnapped on May 21, 2021 and smuggled by yacht to Dominica. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo India denies any involvement, argues it is protected by state immunity and that the UK courts do not have jurisdiction for this case. Harish Salve KC, representing India's govt, said: 'There is no evidence of India having anything to do with the alleged events. The claimant's account is rife with non sequiturs and unsupported assumptions. Those accused seem a rather unlikely band of state-sponsored conspirators.' Choksi is currently in jail in Belgium where he is fighting extradition proceedings brought by India. Choksi first met Barbara Jarabik, a Hungarian luxury goods expert, in Antigua in Aug 2020. In May 2021 she is alleged to have asked him to visit the apartment she had rented in Jolly Harbour. A group of men of Indian origin burst into the apartment and told Choksi he was 'being detained to be interrogated by Indian agencies', Fitzgerald told the court, London's Times newspaper reported. Choksi alleges that the men told him they worked for R&AW and beat him up, left him unconscious, and tied him to a wheelchair on the yacht to Dominica to extort a false confession from him and implicate the Congress party. 'The evidence points inevitably to India being behind this — they had the motivation, they had the resources,' Fitzgerald told the court, the Daily Telegraph reported. Choksi denies the charges against him. Thenext hearing is expected in September.
Scroll.in
3 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Rush Hour: SC directs Karnataka to release Kamal Haasan's film, Indians asked to leave Tehran & more
We're building a brand-new studio to bring you bold ground reports, sharp interviews, hard-hitting podcasts, explainers and more. Support Scroll's studio fund today. Criticising the 'extra-judicial ban' on the screening of the film Thug Life in Karnataka, the Supreme Court has directed the Congress government in the state to ensure its release. 'We cannot allow mobs and vigilante groups to take over the streets,' said the bench. The film, starring Kamal Haasan, had run into trouble in Karnataka after the actor and politician's remark that the Kannada language 'was born out of Tamil'. Asking Haasan to apologise for his remark, the High Court had on June 3 said that the actor's statements had caused 'unrest and disharmony' in Karnataka. The actor refused to apologise, saying he had 'no malice' behind his remarks. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court expressed disapproval of the High Court's directive asking Haasan to apologise. Read on. Indian citizens in Tehran have been asked to leave the Iranian capital by the Indian embassy. Additionally, Indians who are in Tehran but not in touch with the embassy have been asked to contact the diplomatic mission immediately and provide their location and contact numbers. Separately, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Indian students in the Iranian capital had been moved out of the city for 'reasons of safety' through arrangements made by the embassy. Some Indians were also facilitated to leave Iran through its border with Armenia. The development comes amid the latest round of the conflict between Israel and Iran. The conflict began on Friday when the Israeli military struck what it claimed were nuclear targets and also other sites in Iran with the aim of stalling Tehran's nuclear programme. The attacks have led to concerns of an escalation and a wider conflict in the region. Read on. The Karnataka High Court has restrained Bengaluru Police from arresting or taking any coercive action against officials of Royal Challengers Bengaluru or event management company DNA in connection with the stampede outside Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium. The decision follows the High Court's June 12 ruling, which declared the arrests as illegal. The court had also granted them interim bail. The four men were arrested on June 6, two days after the stampede that killed 11 persons and injured more than 50. Read on. Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi has accused India of orchestrating his abduction from Antigua and Barbuda in 2021. Choksi has claimed the alleged event was to extradite him in connection with the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. Choksi is one of the prime accused in the fraud case, along with his nephew Nirav Modi. He had fled India for Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, a few weeks before the fraud came to light. In July 2021, Choksi had accused Indian agencies of trying to abduct him. The businessman had gone missing on May 23 that year from Antigua and Barbuda, and was detained in Dominica the next day. On Monday, Choksi's lawyers told London's High Court that only India had the motivation and resources to abduct him. India's lawyer Harish Salve said that 'there is no evidence of India having anything to do with the alleged events'.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Mehul Choksi takes ‘kidnapping' allegations against India to UK court; claims denied
Mehul Choksi, the businessman wanted in India to face charges in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, is suing the Indian government and five individuals in the High Court in London as conspirators for his alleged 'kidnap, torture and attempted rendition'. The Indian authorities have denied the allegations and objected to the UK jurisdiction on the basis of 'state immunity' and also sought permission for expert evidence on Indian law and the Indian Constitution to be taken into account. During a case management hearing listed before Justice Freedman on Monday, the court was told that Choksi claims to have been tortured back in May 2021 as part of a kidnap attempt 'orchestrated by the government of India'. 'For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these submissions is intended to waive or should be interpreted as waiving India's state immunity,' the court was told this week by the Indian side. Choksi was accused of making 'extremely serious allegations against India, alleging it masterminded an international plot to kidnap and harm him'. 'It is India's position that the present claim is being pursued principally with the (misguided) intention of attempting to cause embarrassment to India and obtain leverage in the Claimant's international attempts to avoid extradition,' barrister Harish Salve argued on behalf of the Indian authorities. Choksi's lawyers, led by barrister Edward Fitzgerald, allege that there was a collusion between five individuals in the attack on him in Antigua to be forcibly taken to Dominica in the Caribbean with the purpose of being 'rendered' to India. 'The Defendants thereby entered into an unlawful means conspiracy whereby the Defendants agreed to, and then did, inflict unlawful and injurious acts on the Claimant by means of assault, battery, false imprisonment, unlawful detention, and/or unlawful restriction of liberty,' Choksi's legal claim reads. The businessman, meanwhile, remains in custody in Belgium, fighting against his extradition to India. He is wanted in India along with his nephew, Nirav Modi, who remains behind bars in London after repeated attempts at bail have been denied by the English courts. There are three sets of criminal proceedings against Nirav in India – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case of fraud on PNB, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings. In April 2021, then UK home secretary Priti Patel had ordered his extradition to face these charges in the Indian courts after a prima facie case was established against him. But recent court hearings in London have alluded to a "confidential" impediment to his extradition, believed to be an asylum application.
Scroll.in
3 days ago
- Business
- Scroll.in
Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi alleges India planned his 2021 abduction
Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi on Monday accused India of orchestrating his abduction from Antigua and Barbuda in 2021 to extradite him in connection with the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, Reuters reported. Choksi, who was arrested in Belgium in April, is one of the prime accused in the case, along with his nephew Nirav Modi. He had fled India for Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, a few weeks before the fraud came to light, and became a citizen of the Caribbean nation. Choksi has since been living in Belgium with a residency card. In July 2021, Choksi had accused Indian agencies of trying to abduct him. The businessman had gone missing on May 23 that year from Antigua and Barbuda, and was detained in Dominica the next day. On Monday, Choksi's lawyers told London's High Court that only India had the motivation and resources to abduct him. In the civil suit, Choksi claimed that New Delhi used five persons from the UK to abduct him and torture him while forcibly taking him to Dominica, The Wire reported. This attempt was allegedly foiled by a Dominican policeman who turned whistleblower and exposed Choksi's presence on the island. India's lawyer Harish Salve said 'there is no evidence of India having anything to do with the alleged events', Reuters reported. Indian authorities have also objected to the UK court having jurisdiction in the matter based on 'state immunity', PTI reported. They have sought permission for expert evidence on Indian law and the Constitution to be taken into account. The PNB fraud came to light in February 2018 when the bank informed the stock exchange BSE that it had detected 'fraudulent and unauthorised transactions' worth Rs 11,380 crore at a branch in South Mumbai. A few officials of the public sector bank had allegedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking to Modi's companies, resulting in the loss of Rs 6,097.6 crore to the bank. Choksi had also defaulted on another loan he had taken from ICICI Bank. After being detained in Dominica, he was charged with illegally entering the island nation. The Dominica government had declared him a prohibited immigrant. However, he maintained that he was abducted and taken to Dominica to be interviewed by an Indian politician. After 51 days in prison, Choksi was given bail by the Dominica High Court on medical grounds. In May 2022, illegal entry charges against him were dropped.
The Hindu
3 days ago
- The Hindu
Mehul Choksi takes ‘kidnapping' allegations against India to U.K. court
Mehul Choksi, the businessman wanted in India to face charges in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, is suing the Indian government and five individuals in the High Court in London as conspirators for his alleged 'kidnap, torture and attempted rendition'. The Indian authorities have denied the allegations and objected to the U.K. jurisdiction based on 'state immunity' and also sought permission for expert evidence on Indian law and the Indian Constitution to be taken into account. During a case management hearing listed before Justice Freedman on Monday (June 16, 2025), the court was told that Choksi claims to have been tortured back in May 2021 as part of a kidnap attempt 'orchestrated by the government of India'. 'For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these submissions is intended to waive or should be interpreted as waiving India's state immunity,' the court was told this week by the Indian side. Choksi was accused of making 'extremely serious allegations against India, alleging it masterminded an international plot to kidnap and harm him'. 'It is India's position that the present claim is being pursued principally with the (misguided) intention of attempting to cause embarrassment to India and obtain leverage in the Claimant's international attempts to avoid extradition,' barrister Harish Salve argued on behalf of the Indian authorities. Choksi's lawyers, led by barrister Edward Fitzgerald, allege that there was a collusion between five individuals in the attack on him in Antigua to be forcibly taken to Dominica in the Caribbean with the purpose of being 'rendered' to India. 'The Defendants thereby entered into an unlawful means conspiracy whereby the Defendants agreed to, and then did, inflict unlawful and injurious acts on the Claimant by means of assault, battery, false imprisonment, unlawful detention, and/or unlawful restriction of liberty,' Choksi's legal claim reads. The businessman, meanwhile, remains in custody in Belgium, fighting against his extradition to India. He is wanted in India along with his nephew, Nirav Modi, who remains behind bars in London after repeated attempts at bail have been denied by the English courts. There are three sets of criminal proceedings against Nirav in India – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case of fraud on PNB, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings. In April 2021, then U.K. home secretary Priti Patel had ordered his extradition to face these charges in the Indian courts after a prima facie case was established against him. But recent court hearings in London have alluded to a "confidential" impediment to his extradition, believed to be an asylum application.
