India sent private jet carrying documents to deport Mehul Choksi from Dominica: Antigua and Barbuda PM Gaston Browne

New Delhi: India sent a private jet to Dominica carrying documents related to the deportation of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne told a radio show in his country.

Browne confirmed that a private jet currently at the Douglas-Charles Airport in Dominica is from India. He made the confirmation on his radio programme after a picture of the jet was released in media and the flight path indicated it had taken off from New Delhi and landed in Dominica via Madrid.

A Qatar Airways private jet landed at the Douglas-Charles airport in Dominica, Antigua News Room reported, which led to speculations about deportation of Choksi. The 62-year-old businessman is currently in the custody of the police in Dominica. 

Browne said that the Indian Government had sent documents from court that prove that Mehul Choksi is a fugitive and these will be produced in the court on Wednesday (June 2). The Antigua PM added that the Indian Government is doing whatever it can to get Choksi deported.

Further, Browne said Mehul Choksi's citizenship is an unsettled matter, adding that he is still an Indian Citizen. 

Earlier today, the first pics of Choksi were released by a local media outlet in Antigua which showed the businessman with swollen eyes and bruised arms. Wayne Marsh, Choksi's lawyer in Dominica, had alleged that his client was ‘severely beaten’ and was ‘abducted’ in Antigua and taken to Dominica. 

"I noticed that he was severely beaten, his eyes were swollen and had several burnt marks on his body. He reported to me that he was abducted at Jolly Harbour in Antigua and brought to Dominica by persons whom he believed to be Indian and Antiguan police on a vessel he described to be about 60-70 feet in length," Marsh told ANI. 

Meanwhile, the Dominica High Court has stayed the removal of Choksi from the island nation till further orders. The matter will next be heard on June 2.

(With inputs from agencies)

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