The police in Dominica have said in their affidavits filed in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) that fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi was found seated in suspicious condition on the bayside near the jetty at Toucarie Bay around 11.30pm on May 24. However, the police charged him with “illegal entry” offence around 9pm on May 28, according to details accessed by HT.
The police said that they came to know three days later (on May 27) that the person they had apprehended was Mehul Choksi. The Dominica police have said that even though a report of Choksi’s “illegal entry” was made at Roseau police station on May 25, he was charged for the crime on May 28.
Choksi’s lawyers have claimed that he was kept under illegal detention for almost 96 hours and was not produced within 72 hours in court according to the local law. The Dominica police have denied these charges in its affidavits.
They also said that Choksi refused medical attention after being arrested, even though he had injuries on his body. The local police also provided him change of clothes worth $400, according to one of the affidavits.
While the affidavits do not advocate repatriating Choksi back to India, they say that an investigation is being carried out about his escape from India, the manner in which he fled Antigua after proceedings of the revocation of his citizenship and extradition were filed there, and his motive behind coming to Dominica.
In his affidavit, a Border Control officer of Dominica has stated that when found at Toucarie Bay, Choksi had a shopping bag in his hand and he couldn’t produce any documentation regarding his visit to the country. It was on May 27 that the police obtained his drivers’ licence, which proved that he was born in India, according to the details of the affidavit.
One of the affidavits acknowledges that Choksi repeated to the police that he was abducted and brought to Dominica; but police neither found any signs of alleged abduction nor any boat.
