Special court rejects Mehul Choksi’s plea against summons in ₹55 crore loan fraud case

A special court has rejected diamantaire Mehul Choksi’s plea challenging the summons issued to him by a magistrate in connection with a ₹55 crore Canara Bank-led consortium loan fraud case, as per reports.

On February 2, Special CBI Judge J P Darekar reportedly ruled that the magistrate’s decision did not suffer from “impropriety, incorrectness or illegality” and therefore did not warrant judicial interference. Details of the ruling became available on Friday.

A magistrate’s court had taken cognisance in April last year of a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and issued summonses to the accused, including Choksi and two former Gitanjali Group employees, Vipul Chitalia and Aniyath Nair.

As per reports, Choksi, through his lawyers, filed a revision application arguing that the magistrate had issued the summons “in a mechanical manner” without proper application of mind. The defence contended that the order was passed on the same day the chargesheet was filed, allegedly without adequate examination of the material, and claimed that the specific role of the accused had not been sufficiently detailed.

Opposing the plea, the CBI, represented by Special Public Prosecutor A Limosin, submitted that the magistrate’s order was lawful and that the chargesheet clearly specified the roles attributed to each accused.

After hearing both sides, the special judge dismissed the plea, holding that the magistrate’s order was neither mechanical nor cryptic and that interference was not warranted.

According to the CBI, Canara Bank and the Bank of Maharashtra had sanctioned working capital facilities of ₹30 crore and ₹25 crore, respectively, to Bezel Jewellery under a consortium arrangement for the manufacture and sale of gold and diamond-studded jewellery. The agency alleges that the funds were not used for their intended purpose and that the loan was not repaid, resulting in a loss of about ₹55.27 crore to the consortium.

Choksi, along with his nephew Nirav Modi, is also an accused in the ₹13,500-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. Choksi is currently contesting legal proceedings abroad, while Nirav Modi has been lodged in a London prison since 2019.