Mehul Choksi gets bail on medical grounds, can now return to Antigua for treatment

The court has also stayed the ongoing trial before a magistrate for his alleged illegal entry into Dominica on May 23

The possibility of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi’s early repatriation from Dominica to India has been ruled out as the High Court of the Caribbean Sea island nation on Monday granted him interim bail to travel back to Antigua and Barbuda for medical care.

The High Court of Dominica granted the 62-year-old bail to let him go back to Antigua and Barbuda, another Caribbean Sea island nation, which had given him citizenship in November 2017. He was on trial for illegal entry to Dominica.

Choksi’s lawyer urged the High Court of Dominica that he should be allowed to go to Antigua and Barbuda for medical care under the supervision of a specialist neurologist.

The Dominica High Court took into consideration concerns surrounding his health, reported online news portal Antigua Newsroom.

Also read — 'Total nonsense': Dominica PM on claim that his government was involved in Choksi's abduction

Choksi, who, along with his nephew Nirav Modi, allegedly defrauded the Punjab National Bank of Rs 13,500 crore, will have to deposit Eastern Caribbean Dollar 10000, approximately Rs 2.75 lakh, to secure his bail.

New Delhi has been trying to get him repatriated from Dominica to India.

The Magistrate’s Court in Dominica will resume hearing in the case in connection of his illegal entry into the country after his return from Antigua and Barbuda, reported Antigua Newsroom.

The diamantaire was reported missing from Jolly Harbour township in Antigua and Barbuda on May 23 last. He was arrested from Canefield Beach in Roseau, the capital of Dominica, on May 26. He, however, alleged before the court in Roseau that he had been kidnapped from Antigua and Barbuda and brought to Dominica.

Also Read | Mehul Choksi's lawyer appeals for CARICOM intervention in alleged ‘kidnapping’

He was in the custody of the law enforcement agencies of Dominica – but was undergoing treatment in a hospital in the capital city.

New Delhi earlier conveyed to a court in Dominica that fugitive diamantaire Choksi continues to be a citizen of India, where he must be brought back from the Caribbean Sea island nation.

Choksi renounced citizenship of India on December 14, 2018. He submitted his passport at the High Commission of India at Georgetown in Guyana along with the requisite citizenship renunciation fee. But the Government of India conveyed to him on March 15, 2019, that his plea for renunciation of citizenship had been rejected, Azad Singh, a diplomat of the High Commission of India at Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, deposed in an affidavit submitted before the court in Dominica.

The Government of India also deposed before the court that Choksi had taken the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in a fraudulent manner.

Choksi was granted the citizenship of the A&B in November 2017. He had taken oath as a citizen of A&B in January 2018 – just days after fleeing from India.