Bank fraud accused and diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, who fled India seven years ago amid a huge political controversy, has been arrested in Belgium following an extradition request from New Delhi, officials said on Monday.

“Choksi was arrested on April 12. A team from Indian agencies, including the CBI and the ED, is likely to visit Belgium soon to ensure that the extradition proceedings start as early as possible,” a CBI official told The Telegraph.

He said Choksi, 65, had been planning to travel to Switzerland for medical treatment when he was arrested.

Choksi, referred to as “Mehulbhai” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence when the diamantaire attended an event there in 2015, is accused of swindling Punjab National Bank out of ₹13,000 crore.

The Opposition had accused the Modi government of “allowing” Choksi and his nephew and co-accused Nirav Modi — who had featured in a group photo with the Prime Minister — to flee Indian law.

India made the extradition request, detailing Choksi’s alleged role in the bank fraud, after reports confirmed he was living in the Belgian city of Antwerp with his wife Preeti, a Belgian citizen, the CBI official said. Choksi has apparently obtained a Belgian “residency card”.

Absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi's advocate Vijay Aggarwal addresses the media, in New Delhi, Monday, April 14, 2025. Choksi has been arrested in Belgium following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies.

Choksi’s arrest comes days after India notched a huge success in the sphere of the extradition of fugitives, getting key Mumbai terror attack suspect Tahawwur Rana flown in from the US.

Choksi had fled India in January 2018 along with Nirav days before the CBI registered an FIR against the duo. Choksi had by then acquired the citizenship of the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

Both the CBI and the ED are probing the Punjab National Bank fraud.

Nirav, declared a fugitive economic offender by an Indian court, has been in a London jail since being arrested by UK police in 2019 on a legal request from the ED and the CBI. He is contesting his extradition to India.

Sources said that while making the extradition request for Choksi, Indian authorities shared with their Belgian counterparts two open-ended arrest warrants issued against him by a special court in Mumbai in 2018 and 2021.

PNB scam whistleblower Hariprasad SV speaks with the media after absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi was detained in Belgium following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies.

“Choksi may seek bail on health grounds,” an ED official said. Sources said Choksi’s bail application would take at least a week to be heard.

In Delhi, Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Agarwal confirmed that the diamond merchant was being held in a Belgian prison.

“There (in Belgium), the procedure is not to apply for bail but file an appeal,” Agarwal told reporters.

“During that appeal, a request is made that he should not be kept in detention and should be permitted to defend himself and oppose the extradition request while not being in custody.”

Agarwal said the “obvious” grounds for the appeal would be that Choksi is “not a flight risk, is extremely sick, and is undergoing treatment for cancer”.

He added that Choksi’s legal team would argue he has been implicated in a “political case” and that “the human conditions (in Indian prisons) are not good”.

“His human rights will be greatly affected in India,” Agarwal said.

Punjab National Bank, which apparently detected the scam on January 16, 2018, filed a formal complaint on January 29, six days after Nirav had featured in the group photo with Prime Minister Modi and others in Davos, Switzerland.

The scandal broke in the first week of February that year. A video clip too surfaced showing Modi telling an audience on November 5, 2015, how “hamare Mehulbhai” would bear him out on his insights into Indian’s habit of buying jewellery.

The Davos photograph and the “Mehulbhai” video dramatically changed the complexion of the scandal, handing the Opposition substantial ammunition against the Prime Minister.

Choksi, largely ensconced largely in Antigua since fleeing India in 2018, shifted to Belgium last year for medical treatment.

He had obtained Antiguan citizenship under an “investment criterion” by paying a large sum of money. The Caribbean nation had said the Indian security agencies had not red-flagged Choksi when it did a background check, triggering another round of controversy and underlining shoddy work by the Indian agencies.

Anitgua had granted citizenship to Choksi in November 2017, two months before he fled India. In September 2018, the then Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister had claimed that “flawed” information sent by Indian officials, describing Choksi as a “person in good standing”, had helpedthe bank fraud accusedacquire citizenship of theisland nation.

India had rejected the claim.

The CBI has filed at least two chargesheets against Choksi and the ED has filed three prosecution complaints (the equivalent of chargesheets).

The ED has attached or seized assets worth ₹2,565.90 crore in the case against Choksi, with the court allowing the “monetisation” of all these properties.

ED’s long wait

The ED’s plea to declare Choksi a fugitive economic offender has been pending before a court in Mumbai for nearly seven years, PTI reported.

The ED had filed the application in July 2018 seeking to declare Choksi an FEO and confiscate his assets under provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

However, the matter has witnessed repeated delays owing to a barrage of applications filed by the accused in the PMLA court and Bombay High Court alleging procedural lapses in the ED’s plea.

“The court is kept busy with frivolous applications, and hearing on our application to declare him an FEO has been adjourned for the past seven years,” an ED officer had said after the hearing was once again deferred this February.