"What about Vijay Mallya?" Karnataka Mahila Congress President after Mehul Choksi's arrest
Apr 14, 2025
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 14 : After fugitive Indian businessman Mehul Choksi was arrested in Belgium, Karnataka Mahila Congress President Sowmya Reddy questioned the return of another fugitive, Vijay Mallya.
Speaking with ANI, Sowmya Reddy questioned, "What about Vijay Mallya? When is he going to come back?"
"Prime Minister promising that they are going to bring back the black money, what really happened to that? I really want to see that happen as well," she said.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore.
Meanwhile, The Belgian Federal Public Service of Justice has confirmed that fugitive Indian businessman Mehul Choksi was arrested on April 12 and is currently being held in detention. It further said that India has also introduced the request for his extradition.
"The Belgian federal public service of Justice can confirm that Mr. Mehul Choksi was arrested on Saturday 12th of April 2025. He is being detained in anticipation of further judicial proceedings. Access to his legal counsel has been assured," the Belgian federal public service of Justice told ANI.
They also confirmed that Indian authorities have introduced an extradition request for Choksi.
"Finally, the Belgian federal public service of Justice can confirm that the Indian authorities have introduced an extradition request for Mr. Choksi. As is standard in individual cases, no further details can be released at this stage," they said.
The 65-year-old fugitive diamond merchant who fled India on January 2, 2018, is wanted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly defrauding the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 13,850 crore. His nephew, Nirav Modi, was also involved with him in the fraud.
Choksi allegedly connived with his associates and other PNB officials from 2014 to 2017 and fraudulently obtained Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit from PNB, resulting in a wrongful loss of Rs. 6097.63 crore to PNB.
