How am I a threat to India, Mehul Choksi asks CBI; refuses to return

New Delhi: Gitanjali Group promoter Mehul Choksi, accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of multi-crore rupees, has written a strong-worded letter to the CBI stating that suspension of his passport is violation of his rights.
“As my Passport stands suspended. I further wish to point out that the RPO Mumbai has not given me any explanation as to why my Passport has been suspended and as to how I am a security threat to India,” he wrote.
Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, along with his uncle Mehul Choksi, have been accused of defrauding the PNB of Rs 12,600 crore, with Rs 1,300 crore being added to the fraud kitty on February 26.
Choksi has written that he is worried about his health and fears that he will not get proper treatment if he gets arrested. He also fears that he might not be allowed to undergo treatment in a private hospital.
“I am also not in a position to travel due to my persisting health problem. I had a cardiac procedure which was conducted in the first week of February 2018 and there is still pending work to be done on the same,” he wrote.
The absconding jeweller has further written that a media trial has been going on against him for which his passport was suspended. Mentioning that his family is being harassed in the case, Choksi added that the allgation against him are being inflated in nature.
The CBI had filed the first FIR in the scam on February 14 against Nirav Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal, Mehul Choksi and his firms Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamond.
Modi, his family and Choksi had left the country in early January.
The CBI filed a second FIR on February 15 over a Rs 4,886.72-crore fraud against Choksi`s Gitanjali Group.
To date, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out searches at over 198 locations across the country and seized properties worth nearly Rs 6,000 crore, while the CBI has arrested at least 19 persons in the case so far.
The CBI on Wednesday registered a fresh case against billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi in connection with the alleged fraud in credit facilities extended by the Punjab National Bank. This is the second CBI FIR in which Modi has been named.