Mehul Choksi alleges India orchestrated 2021 kidnap plot in Antigua

Fugitive jewellery tycoon Mehul Choksi on Monday accused the Indian government of masterminding his abduction from Antigua in 2021, telling a London court that New Delhi had both the “motivation and resources” to carry out the operation.

Choksi, wanted in India in connection with the $1.8 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, is suing the Indian government in the High Court in London, alleging that he was forcibly taken from Antigua to Dominica in an attempted extrajudicial extradition. He was arrested in April.

“The evidence points inevitably to India being behind this – they had the motivation, they had the resources,” Choksi’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald argued before the court.

The Indian government has since sought to extradite Choksi, who faces charges alongside his nephew Nirav Modi, who has been in custody in Britain since 2019. Both deny any wrongdoing in the fraud scandal.

In court filings, India’s lawyer Harish Salve dismissed the claims, stating there was “no evidence of India having anything to do with the alleged events.”

However, Choksi alleges he was beaten in a failed attempt to extort a false confession and implicate India’s political opposition, which he says points to state involvement in the incident.

Choksi’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the court: “The evidence points inevitably to India being behind this – they had the motivation, they had the resources.” Monday’s hearing, the first since Choksi filed his case last year, was held to decide when India’s application to throw out Choksi’s lawsuit on state immunity should be held, Reuters reported.

With inputs from Reuters