India's wait to bring back fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi gets longer. With the case against his illegal entry to Dominica adjourned till August 27, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are unlikely to lay their hands on the accused in the multi-crore Punjab and National Bank scam before August.
The second application filed by him for bail has been adjourned till July 23.
Choksi went missing from Antigua and Barbuda and was found in Dominica under mysterious circumstances on May 23. This week, Choksi's lawyers submitted a High Court order in the Magistrate’s Court that puts a stay on the illegal entry proceedings pending the outcome of judicial review in the High Court challenging the legality of his arrest and seeking to quash the case against him.
The magistrate herself is a respondent in the judicial review matter and has adjourned the illegal entry case to August 27.
The Dominican court has also refused to pay heed to the videos being shown by the Indian media of Choksi having a comfortable stay at the Dominica-China friendship hospital. Sources said that when the prosecution lawyer tried to point out that videos of Choksi walking in the hospital were being circulated on a social media channel, and used by some Indian media houses as a commentary on his medical condition, the magistrate asserted she would not hear anything about those videos. “Media trials” will not be part of the proceedings, she said.
Meanwhile, the hearing of the second application for bail by Choksi’s legal team did not take place this week as the judge was not well and is said to have traveled out of Dominica. Sources said the hearing on the bail application has been adjourned to July 23.
Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 and has asked the Dominican court to send him back to Antigua claiming he was taken to Dominica by force. After failing to get him deported from Antigua, India has been pressing for Choksi’s deportation from Dominica saying he is an economic offender and Indian citizen who is trying to flee the law.
