New Delhi: In 13,000-crore scam in the Punjab National Bank scam case, the name of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi has been removed from the Interpol database of Red Notices on the basis of his plea to the Lyon-headquartered agency.
After this development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remained tight-lipped.
What is Red Notice?
The Red Notice is said to be the highest form of an alert which is issued by the 195-member country-strong Interpol to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally surrender, arrest a person pending extradition, or maybe something similar legal action.
Meanwhile, the request seeking comments from the CBI and the legal team of Mehul Choksi is yet to be answered.
In 2018, Interpol issued a Red Notice against Mehul Choksi almost 10 months after he fled from India in January of that year. He fled from India to take refuge in Barbuda and in Antigua. He had taken citizenship here.
Mehul Choksi had challenged the CBI application seeking issuance of Red Notice against him.
Sources said that he called the case against him a result of political conspiracy. Choksi also raised questions on issues such as jail conditions in India, his personal safety, and health, they added.
The matter had then gone to a five-member Interpol committee’s court, known as the Commission for Control of Files, which had cleared the RCN (Red Notice) rejecting his contentions.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has charge-sheeted both Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi separately in the scam.
