Saint John's: Fugitive Indian-born businessman has won the first round of a court battle to prove that a UK-based group, including a younger woman, was part of an Indian intelligence service plot to lure him to a Caribbean villa to be kidnapped and extradited to his home country.
The high court of Antigua and Barbuda has found that Mehul Choksi has an “arguable” case in relation to his civil claim against the country’s attorney general and chief of police over the response to his alleged abduction and illegal rendition to Dominica in May 2021.
A submission from Choksi’s lawyers details an alleged conspiracy in which he is said to have been subjected to “inhuman or degrading treatment” after his alleged kidnapping in Antigua. It is claimed that the elaborate plot to steal him away had been carefully prepared in collusion with India.
Should it go to trial, the case could open up to scrutiny the world of secret service operations and the alleged role of experienced individuals in the UK. Choksi, 64, is seeking an admission from the Antiguan police that they failed to properly look into the alleged crime and a declaration that they will now relaunch a “speedy and effective” investigation.
Antigua’s attorney general and police commissioner had sought to have the claim struck out as “vexatious”. But the high court said the defendants had not shown the case to be “unsustainable”. It ordered the defendants to file a defence and awarded Choksi 75% of his costs.
According to the businessman’s affidavit, Choksi, who is wanted on fraud and money laundering charges in India, was invited to a villa near his luxury home in the Antiguan resort of Jolly Harbour in May 2021. A separate police report identified the person who invited Choksi as a 33-year-old woman.
Immediately after arriving, it is alleged, he was surrounded by a group of men who claimed to be police officers and repeatedly punched to his head, arm, chest and leg, leaving him covered in cuts and bruises.
Choksi’s lawyers’ submission states that he endured violent mistreatment throughout the voyage and was made to listen to a man on a mobile phone who purported to be in charge of the operation to have him deported to India.