Interpol's panel to decide Choksi's red corner notice request in October

The pending Red Corner Notice (RCN) against fugitive Indian diamentaire Mehul Choksi will be taken up in the internal committee meeting of the Interpol next month, officials said here on Friday.

"The issue of Choksi would be taken up in the Interpol's internal committee meeting in October in United Kingdom's Manchester," a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS.

According to the CBI official, the internal committee meeting is a quarterly meeting to discuss the applications Interpol receives about the fugitives from 192-member countries.

The official also said that the RCN request for Choksi, which was put on hold by the Interpol after he made a representation stating that the case against him was politically motivated and that the state of the Indian jail was very poor, would be discussed in the meeting.

The official also said that the Indian investigative agencies, CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), have made a strong case against him.

On July 2, the Interpol had issued an RCN against Nirav Modi on the basis of money laundering charges levelled by the ED.

On August 2, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh informed Parliament that the government had sent a request to the UK for extraditing Nirav Modi.

Nirav Modi along with his uncle Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Group, is under probe in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud being probed by both the CBI and ED.

The ED had on May 24 and 26 filed prosecution complaints or chargesheets against Choksi and Modi.

The court took cognisance of the chargesheets and issued non-bailable warrants against both.

Nirav Modi left India along with his family in the first week of January, weeks before the scam was reported to the CBI. His wife Ami, a US citizen, left on January 6 and Choksi on January 4.

Choksi was last traced to Antigua, where he has been granted citizenship. The Antiguan government is believed to have cleared his application for citizenship in November 2017, for which he may have paid around Rs 1.3 crore.

Choksi had taken the oath of allegiance as a citizen of Antigua on January 15 this year. Days later, on January 29, the CBI filed a case and started investigating Choksi and Nirav Modi.

--IANS

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