Private jet from Delhi with Mehul Choksi's deportation documents has reached Dominica, confirms Antigua PM

A private jet carrying documents related to the deportation of Mehul Choksi  has arrived from Delhi to Dominica, where he was caught while trying to flee to Cuba from Antigua. The 62-year-old fugitive businessman,, wanted in a Rs 13,500 crore PNB loan scam, has been living in Antigua since 2018 after obtaining citizenship. Setting speculation about Choksi’s likely deportation to India where he is wanted in a bank loan fraud case, the Qatar Executive Bombardier Global 5000 (A7-CEE) took off from its base Doha and reached Delhi at 3.12 pm on Thursday. Then 12 hours later it took left via Madrid Barajas Airport for Douglas-Charles Airport in Dominica.

Bombardier Global 5000 aircraft of Qatar Executive landed at the Douglas Charles Airport in Dominica; its arrival has raised questions about who it brought to Dominica and who will be leaving Dominica onboard: Antigua media

— ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2021

Asked about a private jet that arrived in Dominica on 28 May, Antiguan prime minister Gaston Browne confirmed it to a radio show in his country. Browne told the radio show that the jet came from India carrying necessary documentation needed for deportation of the businessman, Antigua News Room reported, leading to speculations about deportation of Choksi who was detained in the Caribbean island nation after his mysterious disappearance from neighbouring Antigua and Barbuda. “My understanding is that the Indian government has sent some documentation from the courts in India to confirm that Choksi is indeed a fugitive and my understanding is that the documentation will be utilised in the court hearing next Wednesday,” he said. On Sunday, ANI quoted Browne as saying that Choksi is deported to Antigua, he will continue to enjoy the legal and constitutional protections of citizenship. He also requested neighbouring Dominica to deport the diamantaire to India. “We respect the jurisdiction of the court over this matter. My request on behalf of the state, for Dominica to consider deporting Choksi directly to India, as a form of state cooperation to apprehend a fugitive, is perfectly acceptable,” he added. Browne indicated that Choksi will not have the same rights in Dominica as he has in Antigua and Barbuda, where he had been staying since 2018 after taking citizenship in 2017. “If he is deported to Antigua, he will continue to enjoy the legal and constitutional protections of citizenship,” Browne said. The Dominica High Court  has stayed the removal  of Choksi from its soil and put a gag order on the developments till the matter is heard in an open court on 2 June. Choksi has alleged that he was abducted from Jolly Harbour in Antigua and Barbuda by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian and taken to Dominica. Purported pictures of Choksi that have surfaced in Dominica shows him with red swollen eye and bruises on his hands. Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank using letters of undertaking. While Modi is in a London prison after being repeatedly denied bail and is contesting his extradition to India, Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018. The scam came to light subsequently. Both are facing a CBI probe. With inputs from agencies