Mehul Choksi, 67, has dropped his High Court damages claim after failing to pay a court-ordered £677,000 security for defendants’ costs. He had alleged a May 2021 kidnapping from Antigua and smuggling across the Caribbean on the yacht Calliope of Arne, tied to an extradition effort linked to a £1.3bn fraud probe involving his nephew Nirav Modi. A judge rejected key pieces of Choksi’s evidence, security payments were not made, and parts of the claim were struck out or discontinued — leaving the allegations untested in court.
Mehul Choksi Drops High Court Claim After Failing To Pay £677,000 Security
Mehul Choksi is still facing extradition to India - Mint via Getty Images/Priyanka Parashar
Mehul Choksi, a 67-year-old fugitive diamond tycoon, has discontinued his High Court damages action after failing to pay a court-ordered security for the defendants’ legal costs.
Barbara Jarabik, who denies Mr Choksi's claims that she lured him into an ambush on a yacht - Instagram
Allegations
Choksi alleged that in May 2021 he was lured from Antigua, beaten, bound to a wheelchair and smuggled across the Caribbean on the yacht Calliope of Arne as part of a honeytrap plot. He claimed the aim was to extradite him to India, where he faces accusations linked to a £1.3bn banking fraud involving his nephew, jeweller Nirav Modi. All the named defendants deny the allegations.
The Caribbean-based Calliope of Arne was identified as the yacht at the centre of the allegations, but its captain denied Mr Choksi had been on board
Defendants Named
The claim named five people living in England: Barbara Jarabik (a London property consultant), Gurdip Bath (a former Caribbean special envoy to Britain), Leslie Farrow-Guy (driver), Gurmit Singh and Gurjit Singh Bhandal. The captain of the yacht has also denied that Choksi was ever on board.
Mehul Choksi is wheeled out of a court in Roseau, Dominica, which was hearing the case to extradite him to India - AP Photo/Clyde Jno Baptiste
Court Ruling And Evidence
In February, Mr Justice Mansfield refused to give evidential weight to several items Choksi submitted, including a media video of two defendants (which Choksi had described as showing a "shifty" demeanour) and a report produced by a convicted money launderer. The judge described relying on demeanour in a media interview as "simply impossible" for evidential purposes.
Nirav Modi is driven from Westminster magistrates' court after a hearing in his extradition fight in 2019 - AFP via Getty Images/Tolga Akmen
Judge's Ruling: The court found the submitted material unreliable and ordered security for costs to protect the defendants should the claim fail.
Security For Costs And Case Outcome
The judge ordered a total of £677,000 in security for costs: £425,000 in respect of Mr Bath and Mr Farrow-Guy, and £252,000 for Mr Singh and Mr Bhandal. When Choksi failed to pay those sums, the claims against those four defendants were struck out in July. In August, his solicitors filed to discontinue the remaining parts of the action against the Indian government and Ms Jarabik. As a result, the court made no finding on the truth of the allegations.
Aftermath
Choksi says he was beaten to force a false confession that would implicate India's political opposition, which he argued suggested state involvement. Following the 2021 incident he was released on bail in Dominica but has since been detained in Belgium after an extradition request from India; he remains in Belgian custody. Both Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi deny wrongdoing in relation to the multi‑billion pound fraud allegations.
Note: This account summarises court filings and published reports. No civil or criminal court has made a final determination on the factual truth of Choksi's kidnapping allegations.
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