Mehul Choksi arrested in Belgium on India’s extradition request, what secrets will come out?
#News India April 14,2025
Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi Choksi have been arrested in Belgium. Both are wanted in connection with the fraud of more than Rs 13,500 crore of Punjab National Bank.
Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi have been arrested by police in Belgium. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources confirmed it on Monday morning. Choksi, 65, was reportedly arrested on Saturday and is currently in Beljium jail. on
On the basis of open-ended arrest warrants issued against him by a Mumbai court dated May 23, 2018, and June 15, 2021, Belgium Police has arrested them.
Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi Choksi have been arrested in Belgium. Both are wanted in connection with the fraud of more than Rs 13,500 crore of Punjab National Bank.
Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi have been arrested by police in Belgium. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources confirmed it on Monday morning. Choksi, 65, was reportedly arrested on Saturday and is currently in Beljium jail.
On the basis of open-ended arrest warrants issued against him by a Mumbai court dated May 23, 2018, and June 15, 2021, Belgium Police has arrested them.
Choksis are wanted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly defrauding the bank of more than Rs 13,500 crore in 2018. The PNB had filed a criminal complaint against several entities, including Choksi, Modi and the managing director of their firm Gitanjali Gems.
The scam came to light in January 2018, when PNB filed a complaint of irregularities at its Brady House branch in Mumbai. The investigation revealed that Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, in collusion with some bank employees, took loans worth thousands of crores of rupees through fake Letters of Undertaking (LoUs). These loans were taken without any security and no record of this was recorded in the bank’s core system.
LoU is a kind of bank guarantee letter, on the basis of which a businessman can take loans from banks. In this case, Nirav and Choksi took money from banks through fake LoUs and used it in their business. When the time came to repay these loans, both fled the country.
The scam lasted for seven years from 2011 to 2018. Nirav Modi’s companies—Firestar Diamond, Diamonds R Us, and Stellar Diamonds and Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems took loans on the basis of fake documents. Bank employees, such as Gokulnath Shetty and others, were involved in this conspiracy. They misused the SWIFT system (international banking messaging system), hiding the fake transactions.
Mehul Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Gems and uncle of Nirav Modi, is one of the main masterminds of the scam. He fled the country on January 4, 2018, even before the scam came to light. Choksi first moved to Antigua and Barbuda, where he acquired citizenship. In 2021, he was caught in Dominica while he was allegedly trying to flee to Cuba. However, with the help of legal manoeuvres and his wife Priti Choksi (a Belgian citizen), he reached Belgium and obtained a residency card there.
According to recent reports, India has started the extradition process with Belgium, but experts believe it will not be easy. Choksi has the best lawyers in Europe, and has taken advantage of legal loopholes before.
Extradition challenges: Belgium’s strict extradition laws and Choksi’s residency status there could be a hurdle for India. Also, Choksi has delayed extradition earlier too, citing health issues. Experts say the process could drag on for months or years.
