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Mehul Choksi surrenders Indian passport

Last Updated 28 January 2019, 12:58 IST

Fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi has surrendered the passport, which the Government of India had issued to him, but had revoked about a year ago.

Choksi, who is now a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, has surrendered his passport to the High Commission of India in Guyana, sources said on Monday.

India does not have a diplomatic mission in Antigua and Barbuda. India's High Commissioner to Guyana is also accredited as its envoy to Antigua and Barbuda.

Choksi and his nephew and billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi fled the country in the first week of January 2018, several days before the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate launched probes against them for allegedly defrauding the PNB.

The Ministry of External Affairs in February 2018 revoked the passports issued to both Choksi and Nirav. Choksi was later traced to Antigua. The reports received in New Delhi indicated that the A&B Government had granted citizenship to Choksi much before the PNB scam came to light. He had taken oath as a citizen of the Caribbean Island nation on January 15, 2018.

New Delhi has requested Antigua and Barbuda government to extradite Choksi.

Sources said that New Delhi would continue to pursue Choksi's return to India with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda through diplomatic and legal channels.

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(Published 21 January 2019, 08:59 IST)

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