The Mumbai Police on Saturday said they had issued the police clearance certificate to fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi as there were no criminal cases against him when he had applied for it.
The government of Antigua had said on Friday that it had granted citizenship to Mr. Choksi in November 2017 based on the clearance certificate. Mumbai Police officers said Mr. Choksi, who was issued a passport in 2015, had applied for the certificate on February 23, 2017.
The Mumbai Police, in a statement, said, “The personal particular form was downloaded by Malabar Hill police station on February 24, 2017. On March 10, the police station submitted a ‘clear’ report stating that there were no criminal antecedents against Mr. Choksi according to the criminal antecedents and information system used in the Mumbai Police Commissionerate for checking the criminal record of an applicant in its jurisdiction. The system will only reflect the applicant’s name if he has been arrested in any offence.”
The special branch II forwarded the letter to the regional passport office (RPO) in Mumbai on March 14, 2017, the police said. According to the law, the RPO is required to ask the police station concerned if there are any adverse reports against a person residing within their jurisdiction that might hinder them from applying for the citizenship of a foreign nation.
The statement said the police did not conduct a verification as the RPO gave Mr. Choksi a ‘no police verification required’ status when he had applied for a passport on a tatkal basis in 2015. The statement said an “inquiry has been ordered into the issue of the police verification report” and the Mumbai Police are examining their internal processes for verifying the criminal antecedents of a person.
The CBI and the ED booked Mr. Choksi in January for his involvement in the ₹13,000-crore Punjab National Bank scam. Mr. Choksi had fled the country on January 4 and took oath of allegiance in Antigua on January 15.
