Mehul Choksi has remained outside India ever since multiple fraud cases were initiated against him. Acting on a request from the Government of India, authorities in Belgium placed him under arrest. In a significant legal blow to the fugitive businessman, who is accused in the ₹13,850-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, a special Mumbai court on Friday dismissed his plea that sought to halt the proceedings aimed at declaring him a Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO).
Choksi left India around the time the fraud investigations began. However, following formal communication and pressure from Indian agencies, Belgian police detained him in Europe. He was taken into custody by the Antwerp police on April 11, 2025, after India submitted an official arrest request. Since that day, he has been held in a Belgian prison. Multiple bail applications have been rejected because the court considered him highly likely to escape again if released.
In an attempt to halt the FEO declaration, Choksi filed an application through his legal representatives — Vijay Aggarwal, Rahul Agarwal, and Jasmine Purani — in the special court operating under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). His lawyers argued that since he is already in custody in Belgium, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) no longer has reasonable grounds to continue the process of declaring him an FEO for the Indian cases.
The ED strongly opposed the request, stating that Choksi, who is 66 years old, is deliberately avoiding returning to India and is actively fighting the extradition proceedings initiated in Belgium. According to the ED, FEO proceedings can come to an end only when an absconding accused willingly appears before authorities in India, and therefore cannot be terminated solely based on his arrest abroad. The agency emphasised that Choksi’s application lacked merit and should be discarded.
Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi has already been officially designated as a Fugitive Economic Offender. Under the FEO Act, an individual can be declared an FEO if a warrant has been issued against them for an offence of at least ₹100 crore, and if they have left India and refused to return to face investigation. Once a person is labelled an FEO, the Enforcement Directorate gains legal authority to seize their assets and properties.
On October 17, a Belgian court approved India’s request to extradite Choksi. He has challenged this ruling in Belgium’s Supreme Court and continues to resist returning to India. Both Choksi and Nirav Modi are the primary accused in the massive financial scam that is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as well as the Enforcement Directorate. They are alleged to have siphoned off over ₹13,000 crore of public funds from PNB by fraudulently obtaining Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) through bribed officials at the bank's Brady House branch in Mumbai.
Nirav Modi is currently imprisoned in London and has repeatedly used legal appeals to delay and avoid extradition to India. The detailed written order explaining the Mumbai special court’s reasoning for rejecting Choksi’s application is expected to be released by Special Judge A.V. Gujarathi soon.
