Friday, 25 April 2025
Friday, 25 April 2025
More than six years after he fled the country, absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi was arrested in Belgium on Saturday but the complainant in his case and the whistleblower of the Punjab National Bank scam, has expressed doubts about his extradition to India.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED)—had moved an extradition request to bring him back in connection with the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.
Official sources confirmed the arrest on Monday, stating it was a key development in India’s efforts to bring the second "prime suspect" in the case back to face justice.
The first is Choksi’s nephew, Nirav Modi, who remains in the UK, contesting extradition.
Vaibhav Khuraniya, a complainant against Choksi, said, "I don't think it's going to work out. Since they couldn't get Vijay Mallya for so long, I don't think he can be brought back to India so easily because there are so many legalities which are involved. I suppose he has carried this kind of fraud across the world. He has been selling very low-quality diamonds at exceptionally high rates. Probably, that's why even Nirav Modi is in jail. Once he comes back to India, only after that I will be a little more hopeful."
Punjab National Bank Scam whistle-blower Hariprasad SV said, "Extradition is not going to be an easy task. His wallet is full, and he will employ the best advocates in Europe, as Vijay Mallya has been doing. It is not easy for India to get him back. Even though he was caught in Antigua, he managed to get out of it as he had a fleet of lawyers. It's not going to be so easy for the government of India, but I hope the government succeeds this time."
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain asked: "BJP has been in power for 11 years. Ahead of the 2024 elections, they said they will bring these people back in 100 days, which didn't happen. They are waiving off loans of their corporate friends and not bothered about the loans and suicides of the farmers. What really matters is whether the money looted by fugitives will ever return to the country?"
But Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's husband and businessman Robert Vadra said, "It is a very big thing for the country. Arrest is a different thing, but it is important that the money of the people who have been cheated should be recovered, and the government should think about it. Nirav Modi and other people should also be brought back, and the government should ensure that the losses of the people are taken care of by the government."
But the BJP has sounded hopeful about his extradition.
BJP leader R. K. Singh said, "Our Government is not going to let any criminal go scot-free, whether he has committed any economic crime or whether he has committed terrorism. Rest assured, if he runs away and takes shelter in any other country, we will bring them back, just like we brought Tahawwur Rana back. We will bring back Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and all those economic criminals. Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi together looted almost Rs 13,000 Crores from PNB. Extradition takes time because the concerned government has to be convinced and thereafter the courts of that country have to be convinced that we have sufficient evidence to charge him and convict him with a particular crime. That takes time, just like our own legal processes take time, and there is an appeal process. But bring him back, we shall."
MoS finance Pankaj Chaudhary also reiterated the government’s intent. "PM Modi had already said that the ones who have looted the money of the poor will have to return it. Action is being taken against a lot of people in the country."
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh posted on X: "Those who have looted the country and those who have betrayed the national security will not be spared—this is the clear thinking of PM Modi's government. They can hide wherever they want, we will find them, extradite them to India and punish them as per the Indian law."
Former director of Enforcement Directorate, Karnal Singh, said the arrest is a step forward.
"His arrest means they have accepted that they have to execute this extradition request. Now in the court, the Belgian government will fight on our behalf to bring him to India. We have a lot of evidence and we will succeed in the judicial process and he will come to India. The Enforcement Director has evidence of how he withdrew money from the bank, how he diverted it, how he used it for personal use. So we will succeed in the judicial process as well."
