Mehul Choksi, a well-known diamond businessman and one of the main accused in the ₹13,400 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, has been arrested by the Belgian police. This arrest happened on Saturday, and it was based on a request from India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Choksi is currently in jail in Belgium.
Indian authorities had spotted Choksi in Belgium last year and immediately sent an official request to the Belgian government asking them to arrest him. The CBI had also asked for his immediate detention. To carry out the arrest, Belgian police used two arrest warrants issued by a Mumbai court in 2018 and 2021.
Choksi usually lives in Antigua, but he had come to Europe, claiming he needed medical treatment. Reports suggest that he may now apply for bail in Belgium, citing health problems. However, Indian authorities are expected to oppose his bail and will try to bring him back to India through an official extradition process.
The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have accused Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi of working with some bank officials to cheat PNB out of a massive amount of money. They have been charged with corruption and money laundering.
Earlier this year, Choksi told a Mumbai court that he suffers from blood cancer and is undergoing radiation therapy, which he claimed made him unfit to travel to India for trial. In February, he also informed a Belgian court that he has been suffering from a type of blood cancer and lymphoma since 2023.
Meanwhile, the ED has been working to recover the money lost in the scam. It identified properties worth nearly ₹80 crore in other countries, including Thailand, Dubai, Japan, and the US, that belong to Choksi or his companies. The agency has asked foreign governments to sell those properties and send the money back to India to compensate the victims of the fraud.
In December, the ED said it had started returning some of Choksi’s assets to Gitanjali Gems’ liquidator (the person managing the company after it shut down). So far, properties worth over ₹125 crore have already been handed over, and the total value of assets expected to be recovered is more than ₹2,500 crore.
