Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has reportedly been detained in Belgium on an Indian extradition request for his alleged involvement in a $1.8bn (£1.4bn) fraud case involving the Punjab National Bank.
The Indian government had also sent a request for Mr Choksi’s extradition prior to his arrest, Reuters reported, but he was likely to challenge it on medical grounds.
Mr Choksi’s detention came weeks after news reports confirmed the businessman was living in Antwerp with his wife after securing a residency card in November 2023.
Punjab National Bank, India’s second-largest state-run lender, revealed in 2018 that it had discovered suspected fraud worth $1.8bn at one of its branches in Mumbai.
The bank filed a criminal complaint with the Indian central investigative agency against several entities and individuals, naming billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle and managing director of Gitanjali Gems Mr Choksi as the primary accused behind the alleged fraud.
Mr Choksi was arrested for illegally entering after leaving the nearby Caribbean island of Antigua, where he had been living since fleeing India.
The fugitive jeweller had left Antigua and Barbuda, where he had obtained citizenship, to seek cancer treatment and was preparing to relocate to Switzerland, according to NDTV.
Indian investigators have been trying to extradite Mr Choksi and Mr Modi since they fled the country in 2018 and question them about the bank scam.
In December 2024, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the parliament that assets valued at £246m had been recovered or liquidated to repay the debts of fugitives, including Mr Choksi.
Last week, a Pakistani-born Canadian businessman accused of helping orchestrate the 2008 attacks in Mumbai landed in Delhi after the US extradited him in the first such transfer in a terrorism case.
Tahawwur Rana, 64, a doctor-turned-businessman, was expected to face trial in a case related to the attacks that left over 160 people dead.
Additional reporting by agencies.
