Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are main accused in the 13,000-crore-rupee PNB fraud case
Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, who is one of the key accused in the 13,000-crore-rupee PNB fraud case, has been arrested in Belgium on Saturday following India’s extradition request.
Reports said he was arrested from a hospital in Belgium where he was receiving treatment, reportedly for cancer.
Choksi’s arrest comes after two non-bailable warrants were issued by a Mumbai court, reports said. His legal team, meanwhile, is preparing to seek his bail and oppose the extradition request, the reports further stated.
“My client Mehul Choksi has been arrested in Belgium and at the moment, he is in custody. We will be starting the process of filing an appeal against this, and then, as a process of appeal, we will be requesting that he be pulled out of prison. The major ground for the plea is his ill health and that he is undergoing cancer treatment..,” news agency ANI quoted Choksi’s advocate Vijay Aggarwal as saying.
Choksi had fled India in 2018 and acquired citizenship in Antigua but moved to Antwerp in Belgium in 2024.
The 65-year-old fugitive diamond trader is wanted by the CBI and ED for his alleged role in defrauding Punjab National Bank of nearly Rs 1,300 crore, along with his nephew Nirav Modi.
The Metropolitan Police in London had arrested Nirav Modi although he continues to remain under arrest in the United Kingdom although his challenges for extradition have been turned down.
Who is Mehul Choksi and what is the PNB scam?
Mehul Choksi is an Indian businessman and fugitive who was the owner of Gitanjali Group, a retail jewelry company with over 4,000 stores in India. He is a key accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, one of the largest financial frauds in India’s history.
What is the PNB Scam?
The PNB scam, unearthed in early 2018, involved fraudulent transactions worth approximately Rs 13,000 crore.
Here’s what happened:
- Punjab National Bank (PNB), a public sector bank, discovered that a few of its employees had fraudulently issued Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) to companies owned by Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, another key accused.
- These LoUs were used to secure overseas credit from other Indian banks’ foreign branches.
- The scam ran undetected for years, possibly since 2011, due to the collusion of PNB officials who bypassed internal systems.
- The companies never repaid the loans, leaving PNB to foot the bill.
Who is Mehul Choksi?
- Born in 1959, Mehul Choksi took over the Gitanjali Group from his father.
- He fled India in January 2018, just before the PNB scam became public.
- He later acquired citizenship of Antigua to avoid extradition.
- Choksi and his wife Preeti, who owns Belgian citizenship, reportedly relocated from Antigua to Belgium in 2024.
- Choksi’s legal counsel informed a Mumbai court in February this year that he is in Antwerp, Belgium, where he is undergoing treatment for blood cancer.
- Choksi arrested from a hospital in Belgium, reportedly on Saturday (April 12), following an extradition request by Indian authorities.
