Belgium confirms arrest of fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, says India has introduced extradition request

BRUSSELS(Belgium): The Belgian Federal Public Service of Justice on Monday confirmed that fugitive Indian businessman Mehul Choksi was arrested on April 12 and is currently being held in detention. It further said that India has also introduced the request for his extradition.

“The Belgian federal public service of Justice can confirm that Mr. Mehul Choksi was arrested on Saturday 12th of April 2025. He is being detained in anticipation of further judicial proceedings. Access to his legal counsel has been assured,” the Belgian federal public service of Justice told.

They also confirmed that Indian authorities have introduced an extradition request for Choksi.

“Finally, the Belgian federal public service of Justice can confirm that the Indian authorities have introduced an extradition request for Mr. Choksi.As is standard in individual cases, no further details can be released at this stage,” they said.

The 65-year-old fugitive diamond merchant who fled India on January 2, 2018, is wanted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly defrauding the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 13,850 crore. His nephew, Nirav Modi, was also involved with him in the fraud.

Choksi allegedly connived with his associates and other PNB officials from 2014 to 2017 and fraudulently obtained Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit from PNB, resulting in a wrongful loss of Rs. 6097.63 crore to PNB.

Earlier in the day, following Choksi’s arrest his lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, stated that his “human rights” will be “greatly affected” if he is extradited back to the country.

During a press conference on Monday, Aggarwal stated that the defence team would challenge the extradition on two primary grounds: the political nature of the case and concerns about the proper treatment for Choksi’s health condition in India.”His human rights will be greatly affected,” Aggarwal said when asked if Choksi would not get any proper treatment and would be harassed by political parties after he is extradited back to India.

“That’s a procedure. Basically, we will be defending it on two grounds. It is a political case and, secondly, because of the human condition in India,” Aggarwal added.

He further claimed that Choksi had not been declared a fugitive because he had remained cooperative with Indian probing agencies. He further added that a case on this matter has been going in for years. (ANI)