Mumbai, August 4: The Mumbai Police on Saturday informed that they had given a  ‘Police Clearance Certificate’  to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi in 2017 as no criminal antecedents were found against him that time. In its release on Saturday, the Mumbai Police said that they have ordered an inquiry "into the matter of issuance of police verification report (PVR)" to Choksi when he obtained the passport here in 2015.

The statement by Mumbai Police comes after a newspaper report from Antigua has said that Indian authorities did not give any adverse report to stall Choksi's citizenship application in that country last year. Choksi's application for citizenship in Antigua in May 2017 was accompanied with clearance from the local police as required by norms, Antiguan newspaper the Daily Observer reported.

Clarifying about the issuance of police clearance last year, the release said Choksi had applied for a police clearance certificate (PCC) to RPO, Mumbai, on February 23, 2017.

The Mumbai Police further added that since Choksi was not arrested in any case at the time of passport verification, no criminal antecedents against him were reflected in the system. “On 10/03/2017, Malabar Hill Police Station submitted a clear report i.e no criminal antecedents against Mr. Mehul Choksi, after checking 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 statement said.

The release added saying that on 14/03/2017, Passport Branch, SB-II, CID, Mumbai had forwarded the said report to RPO, Mumbai. Choksi, now a prime accused in the alleged Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, obtained a passport under the 'Tatkal' category.

The Mumbai Police said Choksi, who is wanted in the Rs 13,578-crore fraud case along with nephew Nirav Modi, was issued an Indian Passport under the tatkal category. “As no Police Verification Required status was granted by RPO, Mumbai, no PVR was generated from Mumbai Police,” the statement read.

After the news report from the Caribbean Nation created a furore in India, a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs had said yesterday that PCC was issued by the passport office of Mumbai for Antigua and Barbuda on the basis of a clear PVR available on his passport.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 04, 2018 11:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).