Antigua and Barbuda: The Mehul Choksi absconding drama is not coming to an end. After spending almost two months in the custody of Dominica police, he returned to Antigua and Barbuda on July 16July 16 and is now indulging in changing the names, facts from his police report just to go with the stories disseminated by his lawyers.
In a recent statement, Mehul Choksi corrected the name of the woman he was with. He said that her name is Barbara Jarabik and not Babara Jarabica, as mentioned by him in the police report earlier.
Surprisingly, while giving a statement to Dominica Police, Mehul Choksi had explicitly mentioned the name in writing as Babara Jarabica. The Indian fugitive has been very dubious about his activities regarding his escape story and media statements.
A copy of his statement to the police shows that Choksi corrected the police while telling his female friend’s name (Babara Jarabica). It appears that Mehul Choksi is now after changing the facts he had mentioned in the beginning. The corrections are coming after obtaining the copies of the woman’s ID proof. The recent information in the public domain has made him take a u-turn on his stand.
It is suspected that with the help of his lawyers, Mehul Choksi is staging new narratives to derail the judicial proceeding, which is terms as contempt of the honourable court.
It also appears that to support the new plot, Mehul Choksi has unofficially hired an Indian origin man, Ashish Ray. Ray had been very vocal in peddling the new story in the media. He also published several articles labelling allegations in his stories published in a number of media houses that support Mehul Choksi by all means.
Ironically, Ray is the only person who managed to get the one on one online video interview with Choksi. Still, he is not ready to provide the interview to any of the local news providers. The pre-planned or scripted interviews of Choksi would bring severe damage to his legal proceedings in the future.
Mehul Choksi’s defence is being led by India-based lawyer Vijay Aggarwal, who not only defends his client in the court but is also media savvy who enjoy appearing in talk shows and give interviews to provide explanations on behalf of Mehul Choksi.
The legal team and hired media personnel of Choksi continue to claim that their client is innocent and never committed a crime. But, if he is righteous by all means, then why he absconded from India and never went back to face the charges. He had been making excuses on the name of medical conditions, but why isn’t he going back to India, where the medical structure is far more massive and advanced than the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Not to mention, India assisted the Caribbean region in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, with an enormous amount of doses for free.
Mehul Chinubhai Choksi is an Indian-born businessman now residing in Antigua and Barbuda. The Indian judicial authorities want him for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and dishonesty, including delivery of property, corruption and money laundering.
In 2017, he fled to Antigua and Barbuda from India to run away from the impending criminal proceeding in a $2 billion fraud he committed against the Punjab National Bank, which is India’s second-biggest public lender.
On May 23May 23, 2021, he mysteriously went missing from Jolly Harbour, Antigua and Barbuda. His family claimed he was abducted by the Indian and Antiguan authorities, who forcefully took him to the neighbouring island of Dominica.
While on May 25May 25, 2021, he was captured by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Dominica after he was discovered on a beach. The INTERPOL also have a red corned noted issued on Mehul Choksi’s name.
The judicial court in Dominica granted him interim bail on medical grounds. The court ordered that Choksi must return to Dominica to face impending criminal charges of illegal entry.
