Mehul Choksi - How India Bungled In Dominica

After failing to get fugitive Mehul Choksi deported from Antigua, and stumbling into the local political mess and institutional complexities of the Caribbean, Indian agencies are regrouping and hatching new plans to nab the diamond trader

- Namrata Biji Ahuja

A small team of Indian officials armed with documents visited Antigua and Barbuda in May and completed most of the paperwork for the deportation of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi. The quiet visit was a precursor to the high-profile deportation Delhi had been planning for several months.

Choksi has a red corner notice against him, along with the multiple charges the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have slapped on him.

Of late, India had seen more success in deportations compared with lengthy extradition proceedings, and the team visited to lay the groundwork for it. In any case, India does not have an extradition treaty with Antigua and Barbuda.

Officials in the know said that, by May, the diplomatic, legal and security concerns had been ironed out, and Choksi was supposed to be put on a commercial flight back to India. CBI Deputy Inspector General Sharda Raut—the investigating officer in the Punjab National Bank case, in which Choksi is an accused—was to produce him before a magistrate.

Deportation required political will, more than anything, and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne was on board. “The Antiguan government took cognisance of all our concerns regarding the deportation,” said a senior government official. “All legal issues had been thrashed out.”

Delhi’s Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy had apparently made Browne more attentive to India’s concerns. It had also sparked hope of reviving the island nation’s economy ahead of its 40th independence day in November.