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Took shelter in island of Antigua as there is no extradition agreement with India, wanted by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate in connection with ₹ 14,000 crore PNB loan fraud and money-laundering case – Mehul Choksi has been reportedly missing.
According to news agency, Mr Choksi left his home on 24 May 2021 evening to go for dinner at a restaurant in the southern part of the island. He has not been seen since. His vehicle was found later but there was no sign of him, local news channels reported.
Mr Choksi's lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, confirmed in today’s morning that his client is missing and that his family is looking for him. He also said Antiguan police had launched a manhunt. The Chief of Staff of Antigua and Barbuda PM Gaston Browne has said police have already launched a search for diamond trader Mehul Choksi after he went missing from Antigua. The official further told that if Mehul Choksi is not traced, there will be no extradition case to pursue.
Meanwhile, intelligence sources, quoting local media in Antigua, say Mr Choksi might have shifted base to Cuba. "We have got such reports (and) we are ascertaining it," a senior official told Press.
If local sources to be believed regarding Choksi’s shift to Cuba the plausible reason would be non-existence of extradition treaty between Cuba and India.
Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning off Rs 14,000 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), using letters of undertaking. While Modi is in a London prison after repeated denial of bail and is contesting extradition to India, Choksi had taken the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme.