Choksi Extradition Likely Soon As Belgium’s Top Court Rejects Appeal

Belgium’s highest court — the Court of Cassation — has dismissed the appeal filed by fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi against his extradition to India, court officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The verdict upholds an earlier decision by the Antwerp Court of Appeal which had ruled in favour of extradition in October 2025. That court had found Choksi’s arrest valid and rejected his arguments of risk of torture, unfair trial, or forced abduction.

Choksi, 65, has been held by Belgian authorities since April 2025 following a request from Indian law-enforcement agencies. He stands accused by investigators of involvement in a massive fraud — allegedly siphoning off nearly Rs 13,000 crore in what is commonly referred to as the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

With the Court’s decision, all major judicial obstacles to Choksi’s extradition to India are now cleared, and the formal extradition process may begin soon.

Of the total scam amount, Choksi alone has siphoned off Rs 6,400 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged in its chargesheet.

Choksi, who escaped to Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018, days before the scam was detected, was spotted in Belgium, where he had purportedly reached for seeking treatment.

India sent an extradition request to Belgium on August 27, 2024, based on arrest warrants issued by the special court in Mumbai.

The public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in Antwerp, Division Turnhout, initiated an action on November 25, 2024, seeking the enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the Mumbai court.

The pre-trial chamber of the Antwerp District Court, Turnhout Division, in its order dated November 29, 2024, declared that the arrest warrants against Choksi issued by the Mumbai court were enforceable, except for the order related to "causing the disappearance of evidence of the crime".

When Choksi appealed against this verdict in the Antwerp Court of Appeals it also rejected his claims that he personally faces a real, present and serious risk of being subjected to flagrant denial of justice, torture or inhuman and degrading treatment in India.