A magistrate court in Dominica has rejected the bail application of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi in connection with his illegal entry into the country, news agency ANI reported.
"Will will move the upper court," said his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal.
Choksi was produced before a magistrate in Dominica to answer charges of his illegal entry into the Caribbean island nation following a high court order on Wednesday. He appeared before the magistrate on a wheel chair in a blue T-shirt and black shorts.
The diamantaire, who mysteriously went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been staying since 2018 as a citizen, was detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend.
Choksi's wife Preeti, however, said that the woman in question was not his girlfriend. She said the woman was known to him and used to go on walks with him. She said Choksi was abducted by people looking like Indian and Antiguan when he had gone to meet the woman.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), using letters of undertaking.
While Modi is in a London prison after repeated denial of bail and is contesting extradition to India, Choksi had taken the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme, before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018. The scam came to light subsequently. Both are facing a CBI probe.
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