Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi's name has been removed from the Interpol database of Red Notices, reported news agency PTI, citing sources. A Red Notice is the highest form of alert issued by the Interpol to law enforcement agencies worldwide, on the basis of his plea.
Choksi is wanted for his involvement in a Rs 13,000-crore scam in the Punjab National Bank. However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not commented on the development.
Choksi had fled from India in January 2018 to take refuge in Antigua and Barbuda, where he became a citizen. The Interpol issued a Red Notice against him in 2018, almost ten months after he fled India. Choksi had challenged the CBI's application seeking the issuance of a Red Notice against him, alleging political conspiracy and raising questions about issues such as jail conditions, personal safety, and health in India.
The matter was presented before a five-member Interpol committee called the Commission for Control of Files, which had cleared the RCN (Red Notice) by rejecting Choksi's contentions, sources said.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi have been separately charged by the CBI in the scam. The agency has alleged that Choksi swindled Rs 7,080.86 crore, making it one of the country's biggest banking scams at over Rs 13,000 crore. Nirav Modi is accused of siphoning Rs 6,000 crore.
Choksi disappeared from his sanctuary in Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021 and was detained in Dominica for illegal entry. India tried to bring Choksi back to India based on an Interpol Red Notice against him, but his lawyers' swift legal manoeuvres and investigations into his disappearance from Antigua blunted India's attempts to deport him from Dominica.
After 51 days in prison, Choksi was granted bail by Dominica High Court in July 2021 to travel back to Antigua to seek medical help from a neurologist there. All proceedings against Choksi for illegal entry into Dominica were subsequently dropped.
Meanwhile, reacting to the news, the Congress trained its gun on the Centre. It said that the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation would rather pursue Opposition leaders than invest their efforts in towards Choksi.
Tagging a media report on the development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "Modi Sarkar ke Do Bhai—ED aur CBI—pursue Opposition leaders with great vigour in furtherance of the PM's politics of vendetta & intimidation. But they allow Interpol to give a lifesaver to Mehul Choksi!"