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Belgian authorities have captured fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, marking a significant development in one of India’s largest financial scandal cases. Years after the ₹13,400 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scandal surfaced, Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi were arrested on suspicion of a high-tech financial scam that shook the Indian banking sector and sparked a multi-nation manhunt for the perpetrators.
Choksi, who had been living in Antigua and Barbuda since the early part of 2018, was arrested in Belgium on April 13, 2025, at the behest of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and on the basis of an open-ended warrant of arrest handed down by a Mumbai court. The arrest is for the first time in more than seven years that Indian agencies have been able to arrest the high-profile businessman outside the Caribbean, giving hope for his eventual extradition to India.
The Scam That Broke a Banking Colossus
The drama started in February 2018, when Punjab National Bank, India’s second-largest state-run lender, announced it had discovered fraudulent transactions of ₹13,400 crore enabled by fake Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) authorized without due approval by corrupt bank officials at PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai.
It soon emerged that Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi were at the center of the scam. Their group of firms diverted money through these unauthorized LoUs to foreign accounts, utilizing the funds for personal enrichment and to finance their international business operations. As Nirav Modi escaped to London, where he is currently incarcerated battling extradition, Choksi sought shelter in Antigua, having obtained citizenship there in November 2017 under the nation’s Citizenship by Investment scheme — just a few months before the scam was uncovered.
A Fugitive’s Long and Elusive Run
Choksi’s arrest in Belgium ends a long and often bizarre chapter in his life on the run. After leaving India on January 7, 2018, Choksi largely stayed in Antigua and Barbuda. In May 2021, the fugitive hit headlines again when he was found in Dominica, claiming he had been abducted and forcibly taken there. The episode, laden with conflicting narratives of kidnapping and escape, left more questions than answers.
For years, Choksi dodged extradition citing health issues, loopholes in the law, and constitutional safeguards provided under Antiguan law. He denied his involvement in the scam at all times, issuing statements and videos from Antigua denying the charges and accusing political persecution. In September of 2018, he issued a video denouncing the charges laid against him as “false and baseless,” accusing Indian authorities of unlawful property attachments.
The Belgian Arrest
As per The Economic Times reports, CBI sent a formal notice to Belgian officials after Choksi was seen in the nation in late 2024. He was arrested by the Belgian police on April 13 on the basis of two warrants issued by a Mumbai court on May 23, 2018, and June 15, 2021.
Reports show that Choksi had gone to Europe for medical care, something he has used all along to avoid extradition efforts. His Belgian legal team is likely to apply for bail on grounds of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and lymphoma, diseases Choksi has asserted he has been fighting since 2023. Indian agencies, however, led by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), have indicated they will strongly resist any such application and insist on his early extradition.
Belgium Arrest Boosts India’s Hopes for Choksi’s Extradition
The arrest in Belgium significantly enhances India’s prospects of bringing back Choksi due to better institutional mechanisms and legal cooperation between India and Belgium, as opposed to Caribbean jurisdictions where Choksi had found refuge earlier.
While Choksi will definitely challenge the move legally, officials are of the view that this time there are better prospects of extradition, given the Interpol Red Corner Notices and open-ended Indian court warrants supporting the case.
Meanwhile, the ED has been pursuing Choksi’s overseas assets, identifying properties worth over ₹80 crore in Thailand, Dubai, Japan, and the US. In February 2025, ED reached out to foreign governments requesting monetisation and repatriation of these assets to India, aiming to recover a fraction of the massive losses inflicted on public sector banks.
The case of Mehul Choksi has come to represent the weak points in India’s financial and regulatory system, revealing loopholes that enabled big-ticket economic culprits to escape the nation and use global citizenship schemes to escape accountability.
Choksi, who had led Gitanjali Gems Ltd — a jewellery conglomerate boasting a purported turnover of $2.5 billion and a retail presence in more than 5,000 stores — watched his fortunes plunge after 2018. The company was de-listed, its stock price falling from ₹631 in April 2013 to below ₹1 after the scandal broke.
His extended evasion of justice undermined public trust in the financial system and law enforcement. His arrest in Belgium, however, revives the expectation that no fugitive can ever be beyond the reach of justice.
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