London:

Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, the diamantaire at the centre of the multi-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, has decided to drop his London lawsuit against the Indian government and others. Choksi had claimed that New Delhi and a Hungarian woman named Barbara Jarabik were behind his alleged kidnapping from Antigua in 2021 as part of a “honeytrap plot” to bring him back to India.

In a multi-million-pound damage claim filed in the London High Court, the 67-year-old businessman had alleged that the Indian government, in collusion with five individuals, conspired to kidnap and torture him to extrajudicially render him to India, where he is accused of involvement in a Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud. 

Choksi is currently lodged in jail in Antwerp, where he is appealing a Belgian court’s extradition order to India.

The fugitive businessman said that he was lured to an apartment by Jarabik, a Hungarian national residing in the UK, in Antigua on May 23, 2021, through an alleged honey trap, from where he was forcibly taken onto a boat and transported to Dominica. 

Choksi alleged that he was assaulted and threatened during this ordeal. He claimed that the entire plot was hatched in the UK and that the individuals involved had travelled to Antigua.

However, all those named in the case, including Jarabik, have denied any wrongdoing. The Indian government and the four male accused have also raised questions about the UK court’s jurisdiction to rule on the matter.

The withdrawal came after the London High Court ordered Choksi to deposit over Rs 4.5 crore as security for the legal costs of the four male defendants — Gurdip Bath, now St Christopher and Nevis high commissioner to India, and Leslie Farrow-Guy, a British national and former driver of Bath, and Rs 2.7 crore in security costs in respect of Gurmit Singh, an Indian national, and Gurjit Singh Bhandal, a British Indian, for their legal costs should Choksi lose the case.

“Much of the evidence relied on for this application is hearsay. There is no witness evidence as to the kidnapping and assault of the claimant, other than that of the claimant himself,” the judge had said.

Choksi failed to deposit this amount within the stipulated timeframe, leading to the dismissal of the case against the four male defendants. “Subsequently, he has discontinued the case against the government of India and Jarabik,” 9BR Chambers, whose barrister, Gary Summers, represented Bath and Farrow-Guy, said.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are prime accused in the Rs 13,500-crore PNB ‘scam’. While Choksi is fighting for bail in a court in Belgium, Nirav Modi has been in jail in London since 2019.