'Major ground for plea is his ill health': Mehul Choksi's legal team to file appeal for his release

After Mehul Choksi's arrest in Belgium, his lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, on Monday (Apr 14), said that his defence team would be filing an appeal to release the fugitive businessman from custody, citing health concerns and ongoing cancer treatment.

The action against Choksi was taken on Saturday (Apr 12) in Belgium, after the local authorities confirmed his presence in the country, news agency ANI reported, citing sources.

After the Interpol Red Notice against him for arrest was "deleted", Indian agencies, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, moved for his extradition from Belgium, according to PTI.

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However, the diamantaire's defense team is gearing up for a legal fight, planning to seek bail and argue that it would hinder his extradition.

'The major ground for the plea is his ill health'

"My client, Mehul Choksi, has been arrested in Belgium, and at the moment, he is in custody. We will be starting the process of filing an appeal against this, and then, as a process of appeal, we will be requesting that he be pulled out of prison. The major ground for the plea is his ill health and that he is undergoing cancer treatment, and of course, he is not a flight risk at all," Choksi's lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, told news agency ANI.

His legal team asserts that he has solid grounds to contest the extradition, citing health issues and other factors as key arguments.

"There is no push. It is a process. Non-bailable warrants have been issued against him since 2018. It is a prerequisite for extradition that there has to be an open-ended, non-bailable warrant. Earlier, they tried to pick him up from Dominica, where they failed. So then, by the Dominican court order, my client was getting his treatment in Antigua. For his medical treatment, he had to go to Belgium, and he has been there getting his treatment for the cancer. Arrest is a process," Aggarwal stated.

"Whenever for any country, there is an extradition request made by another country wherein they have a treaty. First of all, the person has to be arrested, then the person has to show that he's got community ties, and then we have to show that he is not a flight risk and that there is a medical condition. So that's the only ground," he added.

The 65-year-old diamond merchant is wanted by the CBI and ED for allegedly defrauding PNB of Rs 13,850 crore. He fled India on January 2, 2018. His nephew, Nirav Modi, was also implicated in the scam.

ED alleged that Choksi, his firm Gitanjali Gems and others "committed the offence of cheating against Punjab National Bank in connivance with certain bank officials by fraudulently getting the LOUs (letters of undertaking) issued and got the FLCs (foreign letter of credit) enhanced without following prescribed procedure and caused a wrongful loss to the bank."

Choksi fled India, initially going to the US before settling in Antigua, where he had obtained citizenship in 2017. He was later arrested in Dominica while allegedly attempting to flee to Cuba. However, his lawyer claimed he was kidnapped from Antigua.

(With inputs from agencies)