After team Mehul Choksi names alleged kidnappers, Antigua PM orders probe

The Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has started investigations into the alleged abduction of absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi to neighbouring Dominica on a complaint filed by his lawyers Prime Minister Gaston Browne told a local media outletPM Browne said that Choksis lawyers gave the names of people involved in the alleged abduction to the police commissioner in a complaint the Antigua News Room reportedThe Antigua and Barbuda prime minister also said that if the claims are true then it is a serious matterPM Browne said police are taking the complaint seriously the report said Choksi has filed a complaint with the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda to the extant that he was abducted He made a formal claim through his attorneys that he was abducted from Antigua and taken to Dominica so it is a report that police is taking seriously and they are currently investigating the abduction PM Browne saidAnother report in the Associates Times poked holes in the theory of Dominica opposition leader Lennox Linton who had reportedly claimed that Choksi was brought to Dominica in the Yacht Calliope of Arne around 10 pm on May 23Also Read Antigua Cabinet prefers Mehul Choksi is sent directly to India from DominicaThe family of Choksi had claimed that he was in Antigua till 5 pm on May 23 which makes it impossible to cover a 120mile distance in four to five hours which approximately takes about 1213 hours the publication saidThe report said that according to Customs document the boat had left Antigua at 10 am on May 23 whereas Choksis domestic staff had said that he was in his residence till 5 pm which indicates that Choksi did not travel by the boat which Linton is claiming It quoted unnamed doctors of the Dominica China Friendship Hospital where Choksi is admitted that a nail injury cited by his lawyers is an old one while other bruises could be new and could have been caused by even by a slight pushChoksi had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he has been staying since 2018 as a citizen He was detained in the neighbouring island country Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriendHis lawyers alleged that he was kidnapped from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen looking Antiguan and Indian and brought to Dominica on a boat Choksi was brought before a Roseau magistrate on the orders of the Dominica high court to answer charges of illegal entry where he pleaded not guilty but was denied bail He was admitted in the Dominica China Friendship Hospital The Dominica High Court has adjourned the hearing of the habeas corpus petition filed by his lawyersChoksi and his nephew Nirav Modi had fled India in the first week of January 2018 weeks before Rs 13500 crore scam in Punjab National Bank PNB rocked the Indian banking industry The duo allegedly bribed the officials of the staterun bank to get Letters of Undertaking LoU on the basis of which they availed from overseas banks which remained unpaidThe allegedly corrupt officials did not enter these LoUs in the core banking software of PNB thus evading any scrutiny The nonpayment of these LoUs or bank guarantees worth Rs 13500 crore resulted in default and became a liability on bankModi escaped to Europe and was finally held in London where he is contesting his extradition to India while Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 where he had been staying since his escape from DelhiThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever