The Antwerp Court of Belgium has given a big decision regarding diamond businessman and PNB scam accused Mehul Choksi. The court has justified the arrest of Choksi and approved the demand of extradition of the Government of India. This means that now the way has been cleared to bring Choksi to India.

The Antwerp Court clearly said that Mehul Choksi is not a citizen of Belgium, hence the conditions related to civil security there do not apply to him. The court acknowledged that Choksi is a foreign national and the documents sent against him by the Government of India mention serious crimes.

The charges imposed by India include-

• Joining a criminal organization
• Fraud
• Embezzlement and Bribery by Public Office Holders
• Making and using fake documents

All these crimes can be punished in India, hence the Belgian court has considered them extraditable. Mehul Choksi has been continuously claiming that he was kidnapped from Antigua and taken to Belize or Dominica so that India could catch him, but the court termed this claim as false and without evidence.

What did the court say?

The court said that the documents which Choksi presented as evidence. Nowhere in them is it proved that his kidnapping took place at the behest of Indian agencies. The court said that the decision of the CCF Committee of Interpol in 2022 was also written very carefully and with conditions…therefore no concrete conclusion can be drawn from it. The court expressed confidence in India’s prison system.

The court also mentioned the documents received from the Government of India in which it was said that Mehul Choksi would be kept in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai. He will live in barrack number 12, where there are two cells and a private bathroom. He will be taken out only for medical or court appearance. Complete arrangements will be made for his stay and security in jail. The court said that the allegations made by Choksi that there is torture or bad conditions in Indian jails are based only on reports and press articles, which have no direct relation with his personal situation.

Choksi’s team accused India

Choksi’s team also said that he will not get a fair trial in India because the justice system there is not independent. On this, the court said, “No concrete evidence has been provided to prove that Indian courts are not independent or that Vigilance is being targeted for political reasons.” The court also said that media reporting or name appearing in the news does not prove that the person’s right to be considered innocent has been violated.

Mehul Choksi expressed concern about his health

Mehul Choksi also expressed concern about his health and said that he would not get proper treatment in Indian jails, but the court said that he did not provide any medical record or report which could prove that he had a serious or incurable disease.

Let us tell you that Mehul Choksi is the owner of Gitanjali Gems Limited of Gujarat and maternal uncle of Nirav Modi. Together, both of them are accused of scam of about Rs 13,500 crore from Punjab National Bank. After the matter came to light in 2018, Choksi fled India and later took the citizenship of Antigua. The Indian government is continuously trying to extradite him. Now that the Antwerp Court has approved India’s extradition request, the next step will be formal approval from the Belgian government. After that Indian agencies can start the process of bringing him to India.

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Belgian court has approved the extradition of fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi. Both Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted in India in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. According to sources, the court has issued a preliminary order upholding India’s extradition request. A court in Antwerp (Belgium) gave this order and declared his arrest valid on the basis of India’s request. This decision is being considered an important step towards bringing back Choksi for India.

Opportunity to appeal in High Court
However, according to officials, Choksi still has the option to appeal in the higher court. An official said, “This means that he will not be brought to India immediately, but the first and very important step of the process has been passed.”

Court’s decision after hearing arguments from both sides
The Antwerp Court on Friday heard the arguments of the Belgian prosecutors from the Indian side and Choksi’s legal team. The court accepted that India’s extradition request and Choksi’s arrest were valid.

All attempts for bail failed
Mehul Choksi, 65, was arrested by the Antwerp Police on April 11 on the extradition request of the CBI. He is in jail in Belgium for the last four months. Choksi filed petitions for bail in many courts, but every time his petition was rejected.

Fraud committed with the connivance of PNB officials
India presented strong evidence and legal arguments against Mehul Choksi in the Antwerp court, naming him the main accused in the ₹13,850 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. CBI told the court that Choksi, in connivance with PNB officials, obtained loans from foreign banks without any security by issuing fake Letters of Undertaking (LoU). Later this money was transferred to shell companies and money laundering was done.

Charges are registered under serious sections
India has accused Choksi of several charges of fraud, criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and corruption. A case has been registered against him under sections 120B, 201, 409, 420, 477A of IPC and sections 7 and 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Mehul choksi extradition: The Government of India has filed a formal extradition petition in Belgium to bring Mehul Choksi, accused in the PNB Bank fraud case of Rs 13,000 crore, to return to India. Belgium’s federal public service confirmed that Choksi was arrested on Saturday, April 12, 2025 and is now kept in custody under a legal process.

The Belgian government also said that Choksi has been given access to the legal advisor. Indian authorities have also handed over the documents required for his extradition to Belgium, including arrest warrants issued by the Mumbai court.

Antigua to Belgium
Choksi was running away from India to Antigua in 2018. Recently he came to Belgium for treatment, where he was arrested. He is the second major accused after his nephew Nirav Modi in the PNB scam.

India’s major diplomatic success
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal termed Choksi’s arrest as India’s diplomatic success. He said that this is an important achievement under the foreign policy under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

Preparation to rescue human rights
Mehul Choksi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said that he is in custody in Belgium and an appeal will be filed against extradition. He claimed that the prison situation in India is bad and this case is motivated by politics, so they will be defended (violation of human rights and political pressure) on two grounds.

Vijay Aggarwal said, “This case has been going on for a long time. We have always said in court that Mehul is ready to join the investigation, but he cannot travel due to medical condition. He will join the investigation through video conference.” He said, “Mehul Chowki is ill and getting cancer treatment. In what we make, it will be requested that Mehul should not be kept in custody. The clear basis of the appeal will be that Mehul Choksi is not at risk of escape.”

CBI and ED actions
Let me tell you that CBI and ED had registered a case against Choksi and his company Geetanjali James in 2018. So far, CBI has filed two and ED three chargesheets. In this scam, banks were damaged by issuing fake LOUs and FLCs.

Tahawwur rana extradition: The US Supreme Court has dismissed his plea demanding a ban on sending Tawwur Rana to India under extradition to the Mumbai terror attack, which has removed another obstacle over handing over to Indian officials for justice.

Rana, a 64 -year -old Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, is currently closed at Los Angeles’s ‘Metropolitan Detention Center’. He is associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the attacks on 26 November 2008 (26/11). Prior to the attacks, Headley had done Reiki in Mumbai as an employee of Rana’s ‘Immigration Consultancy’.

What was Rana’s application submitted on 27 February?

On 27 February, Rana submitted before the US Supreme Court Associate Judge and ‘Ninth Circuit’ Circuit Judge Elena Kagan ‘Emergency application to stop the pending trial of the habeas corpus petition’. At the beginning of last month, Kagan rejected the application.

What did the court say on the application of Tehwwur Rana?

After this, Rana renewed his application and requested that renewed application be sent to Chief Justice Roberts. An order post on the Supreme Court website states that Rana’s renewed application was listed for the ‘Conference’ of 4 April 2025 and “application” has been sent to the court. “On Monday, a notice said in a notice on the Supreme Court website,” The court has rejected the application. “

In which case Rana was convicted?

Rana was convicted in the US in a case of assisting Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba in a case related to providing assistance in terrorist conspiracy in Denmark. Lashkar is responsible for the Mumbai attack. Eminent Indian-American lawyer Ravi Batra of New York told ‘PTI-Bhasha’ that Rana had applied to the Supreme Court to stop extradition. This application was rejected by Justice Kagan on 6 March. The application was presented to Roberts, “who shared it with the court to use the entire court’s approach.”

Rana had said the danger of torturing him

In the emergency petition, Rana requested that as long as the ongoing case is pending in the US, his extradition process should be banned in India. He had demanded the postponement of the petition filed on 13 February on the basis of its merits. In that petition, Rana argued that his extradited India is a violation of the ‘United Nations Convention’ against the US law and torture, “Because it is a sufficient basis to believe that the petitioner would be in danger of torture if he was extradited to India.”

If sent to India, it is really ‘death sentence

The petition said, “The possibility of harassment in this case is even more as the petitioner is a Muslim of Pakistani origin in the Mumbai attacks.” The petition also states that extraditing him in Indian custody centers due to his ‘serious medical status’ is also ‘really’ death sentence. On January 21, the US Supreme Court rejected the application related to Rana’s original habeas corpus petition seeking a review of the lower court’s decision.

Why PM Modi’s name in Rana’s application?

The application said that on the same day, the newly appointed Foreign Minister Marco Rubio met Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington to meet Trump on 12 February, Rana’s lawyer received a letter from the State Department, stating that ‘the Foreign Minister has decided to’ hand over ‘to India’ to India ‘according to’ the extradition treaty between the US and India ‘on 11 February 2025.

Trump announced Rana’s extradition

During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi at the White House in February, President Donald Trump said that his administration has approved the extradition of ‘very wicked’ Rana, which is looking for Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. A total of 166 people including six Americans were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. These attacks were carried out by 10 Pakistani terrorists.

India-Bangladesh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh’s interim government chief Mohammad Yunus met separately during the BIMSTEC conference in Bangkok on Friday. In this meeting, the two leaders interacted on mutual issues. After this, Mohammad Yunus press secretary Shafiqul Alam posted some wrong and misleading things on this meeting on social media.

Shafiqul Alam claimed in his Facebook post on 4 April that in this conversation, PM Modi agreed to extradition of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also said that Sheikh Hasina did not treat Younus well. However, this post was later deleted as the claims made in it were completely wrong and misleading.

What did Shafiqul Alam claim in his post?

Shafiqul Alam wrote in a Facebook post that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mohammad Yunus met in a very respectable atmosphere. He claimed that PM Modi praised Yunus’s work and said that India’s relationship with Sheikh Hasina is fine, but his attitude was not respectable for Younus. In the post, Shafiqul also wrote that when Mohammad Yunus raised the matter of bringing Sheikh Hasina back to Dhaka, PM Modi’s response was not negative. He said that he is confident that one day Sheikh Hasina will be extradited.

Know what the Government of India said?

According to the report of India Today, sources associated with the Government of India described Shafiqul Alam’s statements as completely wrong and misleading. He said that there was no such thing between Prime Minister Modi and Mohammad Yunus and the details given by Bangladesh are inspired by politics. According to sources, PM Modi clearly said during the conversation that such rhetoric should be avoided which can unnecessarily harm the relations between India and Bangladesh.

What was the conversation between PM Modi-Mohammed Younus?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh’s interim government advisor Mohammad Yunus had a separate meeting during the Bimstec Summit in Bangkok, Thailand on 4 April. India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Egypt said that in this meeting, PM Modi expressed concern over the situation of minorities in Bangladesh. He said that India realizes the seriousness of this issue and it is expected that the Bangladesh government will work properly on it.

PM Modi also said that India wants Bangladesh to become a democratic, peaceful, developed and carrying everyone along. He also told that India wants to have a strong and better relationship with Bangladesh.

In the meeting, issues related to Sheikh Hasina were also discussed. This issue was raised by Bangladesh. PM Modi suggested that such rhetoric should be avoided which can harm the relationship between the two countries. The meeting was held at a time when Mohammad Yunus was in controversy due to the visit of China. During his visit to China, Younus told the government there that the real protector of the Bay of Bengal is Bangladesh and India have some limitations. He also invited China to invest extensively in Bangladesh.

Pnb scam: Mehul Choksi, who allegedly involved in the Rs 13,500 crore bank loan scam, is now planning to visit Switzerland. Earlier it was believed that he was living in Antigua and Barbuda, but now according to a media report, after receiving the ‘F Residency Card’, he is living in Antwerp, Belgium with his wife Preeti Choksi. This card allows him to live permanently in Belgium and travel to other countries of Europe.

The Government of India has now demanded extradition of Mehul Choksi from Belgium. However, Indian officials have not yet officially confirmed this report. Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are accused of cheating Rs 13,500 crore from Punjab National Bank (PNB). Nirav Modi is currently lodged in London jail and is fighting a legal battle against extradited to India.

Belgian Residency Card received from fake documents

According to the report, Mehul Choksi resorted to fake documents and misinformation to get an F Residency card in Belgium. He obtained this card from the Belgian government, hiding his Indian and Antigua citizenship. Through this card, he was not only allowed to stay in Belgium but also got permission to travel all over Europe. Experts believe that this step is part of a well-planned strategy of Choksi’s extradition to India.

Treatment plan at Cancer Hospital of Switzerland

The report also claimed that Mehul Choksi is planning to undergo treatment at a famous Cancer Hospital in Switzerland soon. However, it is not clear whether he is planning to escape from there to another country or is actually going for medical treatment.

Choksi’s assets are being auctioned

In December 2024, a special Mumbai court allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to sell the seized properties of Mehul Choksi. The total price of these properties has been estimated at Rs 2,565.9 crore. These include two factories in the flats located in Mumbai and the SEEPZ area of ​​Andheri. These properties were seized on the court’s order with the support of Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank.

Estates worth more than Rs 125 crore have already been handed over to the liquidator. According to the ED, a case has been registered against Mehul Choksi in serious sections like criminal conspiracy, betrayal, fraud, property transactions, corruption and money laundering.