Officials head home from Dominica without Mehul Choksi

New Delhi, June 4

The Qatar Airways private jet, which was sent to Dominica to bring back fugitive Mehul Choksi, has headed back home with the officials of a multi-agency team who had gone there to help public prosecutor in the court of law. This comes after Dominica’s high court adjourned the hearing on Choksi’s habeas corpus petition, sources in the agencies here said.

According to the publicly available flight data, the jet took off from the Melville Hall Airport in Dominica at 8.09 pm (local time) on June 3.

Led by CBI DIG Sharda Raut, the team had been stationed in Dominica for nearly seven days to bring back Choksi, who is wanted in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. It is likely that the next hearing may take place after a month and the businessman will remain in Dominica, local media reported. Judge Bernie Stephenson will decide the next date of hearing after meeting both sides, Antiguan media organisation News Room said.

The adjournment is to allow lawyers of Choksi and the Dominica government “to agree on the language to be used with respect to the injunction filed to prevent his removal from Dominica,” News Room reported. The court had adjourned the hearing on Choksi’s plea. — TNS