A Mumbai court recently permitted Gitanjali Gems Ltd to auction 13 unsecured properties linked to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi. The company at the centre of the Rs 23,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case will now oversee the sale of 13 unsecured properties worth approximately Rs 46 crore. The update came even as the fugitive diamond trader challenged his extradition order in the Belgian Supreme Court.
According to reports, the properties include a mix of commercial and residential properties spread around Mumbai. There are four flats in the upscale Borivali suburb worth Rs 2.6 crore, a commercial unit at Bharat Diamond Bourse in Bandra-Kurla Complex with 14 car parking spaces worth nearly Rs 19.7 crore, six industrial galas in Goregaon East, and a final gala in Goregaon.
The court clarified that properties claimed by secured creditors will remain untouched. Ownership or confiscation of the sale proceeds will be determined only after the trial concludes. Silver bricks, semi-precious stones and machinery from the Jaipur facility of Gitanjali Gems will also go on the auction block.
Choksi challenges extradition in Belgian Supreme Court
Choksi has challenged an October 17 ruling by the Antwerp Court of Appeal before the Supreme Court of Belgium. The lower court had earlier upheld India’s request for his extradition and called it “enforceable”.
“This appeal is strictly limited to legal merits and will be judged by the Court of Cassation. During this procedure, the execution of the extradition is suspended,” Advocate General Ken Witpas said in his response to PTI.
On October 17, a four-member indictment chamber at the Court of Appeals in Antwerp found no infirmity in the orders issued by the pre-trial chamber of the district court on November 29, 2024, terming the arrest warrants issued by a Mumbai special court in May 2018 and June 2021 as “enforceable”, allowing Choksi’s extradition.
The Court of Appeals ruled that fugitive Choksi, the main accused in a Rs-13,000 crore PNB scam, faces “no risk” of being denied a fair trial or subjected to ill-treatment if he is extradited to India.
Of the total scam amount, Choksi alone has siphoned off Rs 6,400 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged in its chargesheet.
Choksi, who escaped to Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, days before the scam was detected, was spotted in Belgium, where he had purportedly reached for seeking treatment.
India sent an extradition request to Belgium on August 27, 2024, based on arrest warrants issued by the special court in Mumbai.