Man named in Mehul Choksi's 'abduction' denies any link to case

Gurjit Bhandal one of the persons reportedly named in the abduction of Mehul Choksi from Antigua and Barbuda on May 23 has denied any link to the case and claimed that he had left the Caribbean island on May 23 morning on a yacht according to local media reportsIn his complaint to the Antigua police Choksi has claimed that he was abducted on May 23 evening when he had gone to a place where his friend Barbara Jabarica also a suspect in the case was staying He has named Gurmit Singh Narendar Singh Jabarica and other unidentified persons for his alleged abductionBhandal who is into property business in Midlands United Kingdom has claimed that he had gone sailing in the Caribbeans with his friend Gurmit Singh in AprilMay website Writeups24com reported Denying any association with the alleged abduction of Choksi Bhandal an Indianorigin person said he would cooperate and help the police in the investigation but the Antigua police has not approached him so farBhandal told the website in a telephonic interview that on May 23 he and Singh were at English Harbour in Antigua and after clearing immigration late morning they left for Dominica He claimed that he reached Dominica at night but cleared the customs the next dayAlso read After team Mehul Choksi names alleged kidnappers Antigua PM orders probeWe reached Dominica on May 23 Sunday night On the same day we started from Antigua and cleared the customs the next day on May 24 he told the website Choksi in his complaint has alleged that he was picked up from Antigua on May 23 evening and taken on a yacht which took him to the waters of Dominica the next day around 10 am where he was handed over to the Coast Guard of Dominica on boatTheir plan was to go to St Lucia from Dominica but Bhandal who claimed to be a regular sailing aficionado said he got sea sick en route and dropped any further sailing plan after reaching Dominica Bhandal said he and Singh often go sailing together in the Mediterranean Sea but this time they decided to do it in the CaribbeansWe took a charter from there Dominica to Barbados the website quoted him as saying Asked about Jabarica Choksis friend who is allegedly involved in the abduction plot Bhandal said he does not know her but keeps meeting hundreds of people while taking flights in the CaribbeansThere were 21 flights to the Caribbeans but during Covid there are only two flights in a week now so this increases the possibility that we bump into the same people again and again he said In the telephonic interview to the website Bhandal claimed that he has been sailing with Singh in the region since April when he had stayed for four days in Antigua a day in Dominica and four days in St LuciaIn May they were on a second yachting trip in the region but could not book the boat that they used on their first trip so they booked the Calliope of Arne yacht online Choksi wanted in a Rs 13500crore bank fraud case in India had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he has been staying as a citizen since 2018He was detained in the neighbouring island country of Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend Choksis lawyers alleged that he was abducted from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian and brought to Dominica on a boatThis 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