Sena mocks BJP's 'celebration' on Mehul Choksi's arrest; slams unfavourable Indian market

Lauding economic fugitive Mehul Choksi's arrest in Dominica, Shiv Sena on Friday, claimed an 'Anandutsav' was being celebrated in India. Listing other fugitives like Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya, Sena noted that three of the four men fled the country under the Modi government, questioning if they had help from the Centre. Citing that all of these businessmen claimed their innocence, blaming the unfavourable Indian market due to Centre's laws, Sena asked who would believe these men, now accused of multi-crore scams.

Sena hails Choksi's arrest

Arguing that inspite of the untenability of these accused businessmen's claims, Shiv Sena pointed that over 10,000 good businessmen and traders had left India in the past seven years. Lamenting the failure of major airlines like Jet Airways, Air India, Sena asked what did the Centre's 'Make In India', 'Start up India' schemes achieve. Claiming that PSUs installed during late PM Neru's era were being sold off or being given to 'East India Company' (referring to Ambani-Adani). Commenting on the alleged 'uncounted COVID deaths' in India, Sena compared India's dismal growth rate to Bangladesh's and China's. Taking a dig at BJP's twitter activities, Sena also advised that Centre should not ban Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp asking, 'Where will you celebrate Choksi's arrest?'

Mehul Choksi goes 'missing'

Mehul Choksi purportedly went "missing" after going out for dinner in Antigua island on May 23 and could not be traced even though his vehicle was traced in the Jolly Harbour later.  He was traced to his current location in Dominica and was nabbed by law enforcement personnel following the yellow notice alert issued for him. The police in Dominica are making arrangements to hand him over to the Antigua police. However, PM Browne has now refused to grant him entry in Antigua and asked the Dominican government to directly deport him to India. The Dominica court has granted temporary relief to Choksi by not allowing his repatriation to Antigua yet.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi, have been accused of allegedly siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), using letters of undertaking. Owner of the Gitanjali group, a retail jewellery company, Choksi secured the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in November 2017 under the aegis of the Citizenship by Investment Programme and fled to the island nation in the first week of January 2018. India formally sought Choksi's extradition in August 2018 underlining the principle of reciprocity, the principle of dual criminality, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption to which both countries are signatories. While the UK has ordered Modi's deportation, Choksi is yet to face such heat.