Mehul Choksi gets bail in Dominica on medical grounds, can return to Antigua

The Dominica High Court has granted bail to fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, allowing him to travel to Antigua and Barbuda for treatment of his neurological condition, local media there reported.

The high court has granted a consent order permitting Choksi to go to Antigua, where he has been staying as a citizen since 2018 after he left India, after depositing Eastern Caribbean Dollars 10,000 (approximately Rs 2.75 lakh as per exchange rate) as bail money, Antigua Breaking News reported.

The court has also stayed the ongoing trial before a magistrate for his alleged illegal entry into Dominica on May 23, it said.

Last week, Choksi had filed a case in the high court of Roseau, seeking to quash the proceedings against him, alleging that his arrest in Dominica for illegal entry was "dictated" by representatives of the Indian government.

The case was filed against the immigration minister of the Caribbean nation, its police chief and the investigating officer of the case.

Choksi, who went missing from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been living since 2018 after his escape from India, was arrested on May 23 in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry. He was declared a prohibited immigrant by the Ministry of Immigration in Dominica.

The 62-year-old diamantaire is wanted in connection with a Rs 13,500-crore scam in the Punjab National Bank.