Chidambaram questions Centre, Gujarat on Choksi's escape
New Delhi, Aug 4: Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Saturday wondered how diamond merchant Mehul Choksi fled the country even though he was under police investigation since 2016, and posed questions to the Centre and Gujarat government.
In a series of tweets, the former Union Minister also said that an affidavit was filed before the Gujarat High Court mentioning that Choksi may flee the country.
"On July 20, 2016, an affidavit was filed before the Gujarat High Court alleging Mehul Choksi was in debt of Rs 9,872 crore and he may flee the country. How did the Gujarat government (BJP) allow him to leave the country in January 2018?" Chidambaram said.
"How did the central government and the Gujarat government allow Mehul Choksi to leave the country in 2018 when he was under police investigation since 2016?"
On Friday, the extradition request for Choksi, who has secured an Antiguan passport and is living there, will soon be sent to the Caribbean country, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI, which is probing the Rs 13,500-crore banking fraud allegedly committed by the jeweller and his nephew Nirav Modi, said its letter to get Choksi deported has been forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Confirming the move, an MEA official said the Ministry has received the extradition request from the CBI and is currently in the process of conveying it to the authorities in Antigua and Barbuda.
Choksi is said to have fled India on an Indian passport in the first week of January 2018.
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UP Cong chief Ajay Rai hospitalised after fainting, stable
Lucknow (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai was hospitalised here after he fell unconscious due to low sodium levels, party leaders said on Saturday.
They said he was admitted to Medanta Hospital on Friday evening and is stable.
"Ajay Rai was admitted to Medanta Hospital in Lucknow at around 6 pm on Friday after he fell unconscious as his sodium levels had dropped. He fell unconscious at his residence in Lucknow. For the entire day, he was engaged in party programmes and had also gone to the airport," Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi told PTI.
Congress in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Avinash Pande told PTI, "Now, he (Ajay Rai) is stable and I am also reaching Lucknow."
Medanta Hospital Director Dr Rakesh Kapoor told PTI that Rai collapsed at his home on Friday evening and was subsequently admitted to the hospital's emergency ward.
Medical examinations revealed that Rai was suffering from a sodium deficiency and elevated blood pressure. Doctors administered immediate treatment and he is doing significantly better now, Kapoor said.
A team of doctors is monitoring his health. Rai is conversing with others and his condition is stable, he added.
In a post on X late Friday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Rai a speedy recovery.
Rai hails from Varanasi and had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against Modi from the parliamentary constituency. The Congress appointed him as the Uttar Pradesh unit chief in 2023.
