Mehul Choksi: India, Alleged Abduction, & Many Unanswered Questions | Editorial

By Kieron Murdoch | Opinion Contributor

If you have been following international news reports over the past two months or so, you will know that diplomatic tensions are high between Canada and India over what Canadian authorities allege was the involvement of agents of the Indian government in the murder of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

He was born in India and a member of the Sikh ethnoreligious group, largely in India.

His separatist politics put him at odds with the Indian state, which characterized his activities as extremism and terrorism. In May 2024, Canadian police arrested three Indian nationals for his killing in June 2023.

Further, Canadian authorities maintain that forces within the Indian state were involved in directing or aiding the assassination.

Canada expelled several Indian diplomats it says were directly involved in gathering detailed intelligence on Sikh separatists who were then killed, attacked, or threatened by India’s proxies in Canada, which India denies.

All of this got us thinking about our own Antiguan and Barbudan high-stakes Bollywood thriller plot, that of the Indian-born businessman, wanted fugitive, and Antiguan citizen (by investment), Mehul Choksi.

Our saga with our adopted countryman, Choksi began in 2018 when it became public that he was in Antigua, was wanted by Indian authorities, and had bought citizenship in November of the year before.

Antigua authorities maintain that had there been an active INTERPOL warrant for Mr. Choksi at the time his application was processed, it would have been rejected.

The government expressed its desire to see Mr. Choksi removed and extradited to India where he was wanted in connection with an alleged 1.8 billion US-dollar criminal fraud conspiracy involving the Punjab National Bank in India.

He has stridently denied any wrongdoing. In 2021 he was quoted by the Antigua Observer saying that what he had received so far was a “trial by the papers” about the Indian press and coverage of the story. He also accused Indian authorities of “fabricating” charges against him to meet the requirements for extradition

But beginning in 2018, the government of Antigua and Barbuda, not greatly enthused by the deluge of negative attention aimed at its citizenship programme and the country over the issue, expressed its desire to see Choksi extradited to India.

Nevertheless, it has consistently maintained through Attorney General Sir Steadroy Benjamin, that the government must be guided by the outcome of judicial proceedings, in which Mr. Choksi fought vigorously.

In May 2021, Choksi disappeared from Antigua, was reported to be missing by his wife, and then resurfaced in Dominica not long after.

He was arrested and jailed by Dominican law enforcement for illegal entry there and was photographed with bruises and bloodshot eyes. He was hospitalized there whilst legal proceedings over illegal entry began, and claimed to the shock of the nation, that he had been kidnapped and brought there forcibly.

By July 2021, Choksi had secured bail in Dominica and was able to fly back to Antigua on the grounds of seeking medical treatment.

According to the Observer, He was said to be suffering from coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure, among other ailments. In March of 2022, it was reported that his health was worse, and his return to face trial in Dominica for illegal entry was unlikely. In May, the charges in Dominica were dropped.

By then, the details of the alleged conspiracy to kidnap Choksi had been in the media for months since his alleged abduction.

He and his lawyers alleged that the plot involved a woman who had befriended him but later lured him to a location from which he was abducted. The men responsible for the alleged abduction were said to be of Indian origin, some with British citizenship.

The Observer reported in August of 2021 that Choksi claimed to have been tasered about his body and threatened with a kitchen knife by assailants who emerged from a villa next to the point to which he had been lured, before being strapped to a wheelchair and gagged, then taken by boat to Dominica.

He alleged that when the boat arrived, he was taken into custody by Dominican police immediately and denied access to a lawyer for some time.

The alleged involvement of British Indian nationals in his kidnapping prompted Choksi to secure the services of a British lawyer, who characterized what transpired as an international crime orchestrated by authorities within the Indian state to abduct a wanted man, bypassing the rule of law in Antigua and Barbuda and elsewhere.

Choksi sued state authorities claiming they were not seriously investigating the case.

In March 2023, an initial but detailed Antiguan police report that gathered evidence on the alleged abductors who entered the country was found by the High Court to initially support the claims he was making about his abduction and forcible removal from Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021.

The report stated: “Facts are aligning with Mr Choksi’s unofficial version of the events that led to his appearance in the state of Dominica. The plethora of real and circumstantial evidence makes it clear that a case of kidnapping with broad collusion among multiple conspirators exists.” If agents of the Indian state had directed or approved of his alleged abduction, that may have implications for any extradition.

But unlike Canada – a country with top-tier internal security, counterintelligence, and foreign intelligence apparatus – Antigua and Barbuda likely lacks the reach to be able to prove whether such a thing occurred, or that any agents of the Indian state were in any way involved.

Meanwhile, Choksi’s cases remain in court and will likely take various twists and turns as time moves on.

The Commissioner of Police confirmed in January 2023 that at some point, Antiguan authorities had requested that INTERPOL issue a Red Notice for three persons – foreign nationals – whom Choksi claimed participated in his alleged kidnapping and that these were approved.

But generally, it is not much known publicly what the state of the probe into his alleged abduction is, or if anyone will ever be charged or can be charged with any crime in relation to the alleged abduction if any crime was committed.

In the meantime, all remains quiet.

About the writer:

Kieron Murdoch is an opinion contributor at antigua.news. He worked as a journalist and later as a radio presenter in Antigua and Barbuda for eight years, covering politics and governance especially. If you have an opinion on the issues raised in this editorial and would like to submit a response by email to be considered for publication, please email [email protected].