Mehul Choksi case: Lawyer reveals new evidence proving 'abduction' was pre-planned

London - Choksi, who is wanted in India in RS 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case went missing from Antigua and Barbuda on May 23.

Ahead of the hearing of Indian fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi's bail plea in Dominica, his lawyer contended on Monday that two new evidences have come to light to show that his "abduction" was pre-planned - alleged "decoy" Barbara Jarabik had asked an AirbnB agent whether the property she was inquiring was booked by a UK travel agency, and video evidence shows the arrival and departure in Jolly Harbour of the boat upon which the bound and gagged diamantaire was taken out to sea to be transferred to the larger ship for the "unlawful journey" to Dominica.

Michael Polak, part of the legal team representing Choksi and an expert in providing legal assistance to foreign nationals around the world, said that while "terrible ordeal" for the diamantaire, and "this attack on the rule of law", took place on May 23, the "planning for what was to happen to Choksi occurred much earlier".

"In April 2021 what may have been a reconnaissance trip or failed kidnap attempt took place,"" Polak said, adding that four individuals travelled to the Caribbean from London in April and one of these was Jarabik, the person who Choksi accuses of luring him to the spot where he was attacked and kidnapped in May.

He alleged that in April, Jarabik flew with one of the men, from London to Antigua and then on to Dominica.

"During this period,and coinciding with the exact point when Jarabik and the man she travelled with were in Dominica, two men attempted to enter Dominica by boat but were barred as being suspected of people trafficking. These men were the same men, who Choksi says kidnapped him on the day after he had been offloaded to the Dominican Police," he claimed.

"The April trip may have been adress rehearsal for the May kidnapping because exactly what happened on that occasion, including Jarabik and her handler leaving Dominica by private jet, took place on May 23 when Choksi was kidnapped."

Choksi, who is wanted in India in RS 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case went missing from Antigua and Barbuda on May 23, sparking a massive manhunt. He was captured in Dominica on May 26, and faces charges of illegal entry.

Polak further said that on May 8, in what seems to have been in preparation for the kidnapping, Choksi says that an Airbnb villa was rented by Jarabik and that this was the place to which he was lured and kidnapped from. He said that Jarabik in her Airbnb messages in regard to renting Jolly Harbour North Villa F on May 8 asked about being able to dock a small boat at the property."It should be noted that she told the host they might take both Villas F and the apartment next door, and then subsequently Villa E was booked by Skylord Travel Ltd, a UK-based travel agency with offices in London and Birmingham," Polak said.

"It is not suggested that this company was involved in the kidnapping," he, however, added.

The diamantaire is wanted in India by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in Rs 13,500 crore case. He had taken the citizenship of Antigua in 2017 and left India on January 4, 2018 days before the case came to light.