LONDON, June 17: Mehul Choksi, the businessman wanted in India to face charges in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, is suing the Indian government and five individuals in the High Court in London as conspirators for his alleged “kidnap, torture and attempted rendition”.
The Indian authorities have denied the allegations and objected to the UK jurisdiction on the basis of “state immunity” and also sought permission for expert evidence on Indian law and the Indian Constitution to be taken into account.
During a case management hearing listed before Justice Freedman on Monday, the court was told that Choksi claims to have been tortured back in May 2021 as part of a kidnap attempt “orchestrated by the government of India”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these submissions is intended to waive or should be interpreted as waiving India’s state immunity,” the court was told this week by the Indian side.
Choksi was accused of making “extremely serious allegations against India, alleging it masterminded an international plot to kidnap and harm him”.
“It is India’s position that the present claim is being pursued principally with the (misguided) intention of attempting to cause embarrassment to India and obtain leverage in the Claimant’s international attempts to avoid extradition,” barrister Harish Salve argued on behalf of the Indian authorities.
Choksi’s lawyers, led by barrister Edward Fitzgerald, allege that there was a collusion between five individuals in the attack on him in Antigua to be forcibly taken to Dominica in the Caribbean with the purpose of being “rendered” to India.
“The Defendants thereby entered into an unlawful means conspiracy whereby the Defendants agreed to, and then did, inflict unlawful and injurious acts on the Claimant by means of assault, battery, false imprisonment, unlawful detention, and/or unlawful restriction of liberty,” Choksi’s legal claim reads.
The businessman, meanwhile, remains in custody in Belgium, fighting against his extradition to India. He is wanted in India along with his nephew, Nirav Modi, who remains behind bars in London after repeated attempts at bail have been denied by the English courts.
There are three sets of criminal proceedings against Nirav in India – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case of fraud on PNB, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings.
In April 2021, then UK home secretary Priti Patel had ordered his extradition to face these charges in the Indian courts after a prima facie case was established against him. But recent court hearings in London have alluded to a “confidential” impediment to his extradition, believed to be an asylum application. (PTI)
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