Mehul Choksi returns to Antigua & Barbuda on medical grounds

FUGITIVE diamond businessman Mehul Choksi on Thursday (15) landed in Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been residing since leaving India in 2018, after 51 days in custody in the neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry which his counsels claim to be a kidnapping plan, local media said.

The 62-year-old was given bail by Dominica High Court to return to Antigua for seeing a neurologist there and taking medical help.

After depositing bail money of EC (East Caribbean) Dollars 10,000 (Rs 2.75 lakh), Choksi in a shirt and shorts flew back to Antigua in a chartered plane, Antigua News Room reported.

Choksi had attached his medical reports while seeking bail and they included a CT scan which showed “mildly worsening hematoma”.

His doctors recommended an urgent review of his medical state by a neurologist and a neurosurgical consultant.

“The services are not currently available on the island (Dominica). All courtesies extended to him would be greatly appreciated,” the CT scan report, signed by doctors Yerandy Galle Gutierrez and Rene Gilbert Veranes of Princess Margaret Hospital of Dominica and dated June 29, said.

Choksi is wanted in India in a Rs 14,000-crore ($1.9 billion) bank fraud case. He had mysteriously gone missing from Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been staying as a citizen since 2018, on May 23.

He was detained in Dominica for illegal entry following a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend. His lawyers though said that he was abducted by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian and taken to Dominica on a boat.