A Dominica court has ordered a stay on Mehul Choksi’s repatriation after his lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition alleging that he was denied legal rights and was not allowed to meet his lawyers initially, Hindustan Times reported citing local media.
Choksi’s legal counsel Vijay Aggarwal said, “The legal team has filed a habeas corpus petition in Dominica for Mehul Choksi and have also highlighted deprivation of access to Mehul Choksi and deprivation of constitutional rights to legal assistance.”
A habeas corpus petition is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee before a court to determine if the person’s imprisonment or detention is lawful.
Duelling over dual citizenship
Earlier, reiterating his government’s stand on Mehul Choksi who was apprehended in neighbouring Dominica after going ‘missing’ on Sunday, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that the fugitive businessman can still be directly extradited to India as he still holds dual citizenship.
“It’s the decision of the Dominican government whether or not to send him back to Antigua or India. The issue of Antiguan citizenship is a thing for concern. He is outside of our jurisdiction right now. It’s up to Dominica authority to decide if they will send him back to Antigua or repatriate him to India. Our preference is that he should be sent back to India.”
“Choksi’s effort to revoke his Indian citizenship is still not completed, so he still holds Indian citizenship. We have sufficient basis to revoke his citizenship. There is no specific provision in law calling for revocation in an absconding case,” he told CNN-News18’s Anand Narsimhan.
‘Fishy’ business
Aggarwal had also raised doubts about the way Choksi had gone missing from Antigua and Barbuda only to be detained in Dominica, about 100 nautical miles away, for illegal entry. His lawyer in Dominica, Wayne Marsh, had told a radio show that in a brief interaction with Choksi, allowed by authorities after a lot of efforts, the diamantaire had claimed that he was picked up at Jolly Harbour in Antigua and Barbuda by men looking like Indian and Antiguan policemen and was put in a vessel.
Marsh had said he saw marks on the body of Choksi who had swollen eyes and feared for his life. He said Choksi is a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda and not India hence he should be sent back. Aggarwal called the entire episode of his mysterious disappearance and detention in Dominica “fishy”.
“Lawyers for Choksi in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica have been trying to have a legal interview with him as per his constitutional rights but they were denied access to him. After great effort they were able to speak to Choksi for two minutes during which he narrated a horrifying experience which is an eye-opener and vindicates my stand that he would not have gone from Antigua voluntarily,” Aggarwal said. He said that after being taken from Antigua, Choksi was kept somewhere and then on Monday he was taken to a police station. Since then he has been there and this news to the world was broken only on Wednesday, and there were marks on his body, Aggarwal said.
“There is something fishy and I guess it was a strategy to take him to another country so that there are chances of sending him back to India. So I don’t know what forces are operating. Only the time will tell,” he said. Choksi, who is wanted in a Rs 13,500-crore loan fraud in the Punjab National Bank, was last seen going for dinner in his car in Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday.
His staff had reported him missing after his car was found. On Thursday (Indian Time), the Dominica government confirmed his presence on its soil saying he has been “detained” for illegal entry.
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