Mehul Choksi has challenged the Indian government’s bid to declare him a fugitive economic offender, arguing he is already in custody abroad and not evading justice.

His lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, told a Special Court in Mumbai that Choksi was detained in Belgium on the basis of an Indian non-bailable warrant, and is therefore under India’s “constructive custody”.

Aggarwal said the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act applies only to those who flee to avoid prosecution or refuse to return. He argued that Choksi left India in 2018 for medical treatment with police approval, and at a time when no charges were pending.

Choksi’s arrest in Belgium followed an extradition request by India. He had previously been barred from leaving Antigua by a Dominican court after he claimed he was abducted in 2021 — a case that is now the subject of a civil suit in the UK, in which he accuses Indian intelligence agents of involvement.

Meanwhile, India’s market regulator SEBI has frozen Choksi’s accounts over unpaid insider trading penalties. His next court appearance in Belgium is yet to be set.