London, UK – Fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi has reignited claims that he was kidnapped in Antigua in 2021, as part of an alleged plot by the Indian government to forcibly extradite him.

According to international new reports, his lawyers made the accusation before London’s High Court on Monday, arguing that only India had the motive and means to carry out such an operation.

Hindu.com says the Indian authorities have denied the allegations and objected to the U.K. jurisdiction based on “state immunity” and also sought permission for expert evidence on Indian law and the Indian Constitution to be taken into account.

Choksi, who holds Antiguan citizenship, is suing the Indian government in the UK, claiming that agents acting on behalf of New Delhi abducted him and transported him to neighbouring Dominica, where he was briefly detained. He alleges the attempted rendition was a covert effort to return him to India to face fraud charges.

The businessman, who was arrested earlier this year in Belgium, is wanted by Indian authorities in connection with a $1.8 billion fraud at the state-run Punjab National Bank—one of the country’s largest banking scandals. Indian officials have been pursuing his extradition since 2018, accusing him and his nephew, Nirav Modi, of orchestrating the scheme. Both men deny the allegations. Modi has been in custody in Britain since 2019, also fighting extradition.

Choksi’s legal team maintains that the 2021 incident in Antigua was not an isolated event but a deliberate action by the Indian state.

Mehul Choksi headed home from the V.C Bird International airport after being held in Dominica for a month

The UK lawsuit revives a 2021 claim by Choksi that he was kidnapped from his residence in Antigua between May 23 and 25, beaten, and taken by boat to Dominica. There, he was arrested for entering the country illegally. He was held for over a month before being granted $10,000 bail and returning to Antigua for medical treatment.

The criminal case against him in Dominica was dropped in May 2022, reportedly based on a 19-page Antiguan police report that supported Choksi’s claim of abduction. Although the full report has never been publicly released, a page of the document surfaced on Indian news site The Wire. The Antigua and Barbuda government, however, maintains it never received any official law enforcement report on the matter.