Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi claims abduction by Indian agents

In a statement said to have been smuggled out of a Dominican prison — where he has reportedly been held since May 25 — the absconding Indian-born diamond merchant Mehul Choksi says he was abducted from the Caribbean island of Antigua on the night of May 23 and forcibly taken on a boat to the island of Dominica.

The Indian government is reported to have applied for his extradition to India in a Dominican court, which is scheduled to hear the case on Wednesday. Both Antigua and Dominica are members of the Commonwealth, of which the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth, is