A Belgian court has approved the extradition of fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi to India. The court ruled that Choksi’s arrest by Belgian police earlier this year was justified. However, the court said that Mehul Choksi can still appeal against this decision in the Supreme Court, which means that he will not be able to be brought back to India immediately.
However, officials of India’s law enforcement agencies have rejected this decision of the Belgian court. Mehul Choksi An important first step in the extradition process. On the formal request of Indian authorities, Choksi was arrested by the Antwerp Police on April 11, 2025. Since then, he has been lodged in a prison in Belgium, where many of his bail petitions have been rejected on the grounds that he is a flight risk.
What are the charges against Mehul Choksi in India?
During the hearing in the court, both the sides, the Belgian prosecution representing India and Choksi’s legal team presented their arguments. The court found that the crimes with which Mehul Choksi is accused in India include criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and corruption, which are also punishable under Belgian law. This satisfies the ‘double criminality’ requirement for extradition under international treaties.
Also read: ‘Mehul Choksi does not want to return to India, is opposing extradition’, ED informed the court
India has charged Mehul Choksi under several sections of the Indian Penal Code – 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence or furnishing false information), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and 477A (falsification of documents) – and sections 7 (bribery) and 13 (criminal conspiracy) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Malpractice). In this case, India cited the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), both of which Belgium has signed.
Special cell ready in jail for Mehul Choksi
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team has visited Belgium thrice to present evidence and has also hired a European law firm to assist in the process. India has assured the Belgian authorities that if Mehul Choksi is extradited, he will be kept in humane conditions in an Indian jail. He will be kept in barrack number 12 of Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, which follows European Human Rights standards. In this barrack, he will have access to clean water, food, newspapers, television and medical facilities, and he will not be kept in solitary confinement.
India also said that Mehul Choksi is now an Indian citizen. Central agencies rejected his claim to have renounced Indian nationality in December 2018 after acquiring Antigua and Barbuda citizenship in November 2017. Choksi is most wanted in India in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, one of the country’s biggest banking scams. Central agencies have accused him of fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering between 2011 and 2018, after which he fled India in early 2018. The Belgian court also said that there was a real risk of Mehul Choksi fleeing the country again, and therefore upheld the legality of his arrest.
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