Interpol takes off Red Corner Notice against Mehul Choksi

New Delhi: The decision of Interpol to take off the Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued against Mehul Choksi is a result of efforts of the legal team and the genuine claim of the "kidnapping" of my client Mehul Choksi, said his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal.

Ultimately, truth has prevailed, he said, adding, "as the kidnapping attempt of my client is not approved by the international community, RCN issued against my client by Interpol has been removed".

It is pertinent to note that Red Corner Notices are issued against fugitives and is considered as a request to law enforcement agencies across the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

The 63-year-old fugitive is wanted in India in connection with a Rs 13,500-crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Lawyer Raleigh claimed that Indian agencies had abducted him from Antigua and forcibly took him to Dominica in June 2021.

Last year, the fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi also got a huge relief from the Commonwealth of Dominica in which he was charged with illegal entry by the police. The prosecution of Dominica decided to withdraw/discontinue the legal proceedings going in the illegal entry case against him.

Director of Public Prosecutions (AG) in a reply filed on May 17, 2022, to the Magistrate Court informed that "'Mehul Chinubhai Choksi' was charged, for that he, on the 24th day of May 2021 at Toucarie Bay, Toucarie in the Parish of St. John, in the Commonwealth of Dominica, did enter Illegally into the Commonwealth of Dominica at a place to wit "Toucarie Bay, Toucarie" not approved as a point of entry".

The reply of the Director of Prosecutions further states that "In accordance with the provisions of Section 72(2) (c) of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Dominica, I do hereby discontinue the above-mentioned proceedings against the said, 'Mehul Chinubhai Choksi'".

After the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Choksi lawyer Advocate Vijay Aggarwal while talking to ANI said, "Truth always comes out in the end, no matter how hard anyone tries to stop it or hide it. Lies are just temporary delays to the inevitable. It was extremely insensitive for some people to call injuries on my client Mr Mehul Choksi to be fake because of some legal strategy."

Earlier, when Dominica High Court granted interim bail to Choksi on medical grounds, Vijay Aggarwal had said that all pending proceedings related to illegal entry against Mehul Choksi will be kept in abeyance till he gets medically fit to come back to Dominica.

"But according to us that was not an illegal entry matter, it was a forceful entry case," he added.

Fugitive Businessman Mehul Choksi had gone missing from Antigua on May 23, 2021, and was soon caught in Dominica. He was charged with illegal entry by the police in Dominica.