The drama generated by the news that fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi had gone missing earlier this week from his adopted home in Antigua and Barbuda has not ended with his capture, announced in Dominica, on Wednesday.
While the government of Antigua and Barbuda has called on Dominica to deport him directly to India to face charges in the PNB scam, Choksi's lawyers in the Caribbean have won a reprieve of sorts.
On Thursday, Justice Birnie Stephenson of the High Court in Dominica ruled that Choksi could not be immediately removed from the country and he should be granted full access to attorneys.
Choksi had four lawyers representing him—Wayne Norde, Julien Prevost, Cara Shillingford-Marsh and Wayne Benjamin Marsh—who had filed an application in the High Court. The lawyers filed a habeas corpus writ to bring Choksi to court to ascertain whether he had been illegally detained.
Marsh told Dominica News Online, a local publication, that Choksi appeared to be severely beaten. "His left eye was swollen and his face was severely bruised. He appeared weak and feeble and there were several marks on his body. He could barely stand from the mattress on the ground,” Marsh told Dominica News Online.
"The attorney said Choksi informed them that he was on his way to dinner on Sunday evening in Antigua when 7 to 8 men dressed in blue who sounded like Indians and Antiguan police officers placed a bag over his head and forced him onto a sailing vessel at Jolly Harbour, in Antigua which carried a Dominican flag. He said he later arrived in Dominica but en route aboard the vessel, he was beaten, shocked in the eye with an electrical device and other parts of his body," Dominica News Online reported.
Marsh declared, "Choksi’s fear is that the Indian government, Dominican and Antiguan government are all involved in what he described as his 'abduction'."
The lawyers claimed that despite the High Court's order, they were initially denied permission to meet Choksi. "This clearly means that the government of Antigua is working with the government of Dominica to ensure that Mr Choksi is denied his legal right, access to his attorney and his family and we as attorneys will be doing all that we can to ensure that he is represented," Marsh told Dominica News Online.
The High Court is expected to take up the matter of Choksi again at 9am on Friday (local time).
India lawyer also alleges torture
Vijay Aggarwal, the lawyer representing Choksi in India, also alleged Choksi was abducted and tortured.
Aggarwal told ANI late on Thursday that Choksi had been forcefully taken from Antigua to Dominica. "He (Choksi) has narrated that he was picked up by various people from Jolly Harbour in Antigua. And then he was taken to Dominica. And he was there on Sunday and then he was taken to the police station on Monday," Aggarwal told ANI.
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"I have been told that there are marks of torture on the body. Now, we are trying our very best in Dominica for legal recourse, so that he is sent back to Antigua," Aggarwal told ANI.
Aggarwal alleged it was 'fishy' there was no inquiry into how Choksi reached India. "We are dealing with a human being. Not a pawn that can be placed here or there and it cannot be on somebody's desires and whims. Further, as per the universal declaration of human rights, there are
international covenants on voluntary repatriation and a person can be deported to only the country of their citizenship," Aggarwal told ANI.
