India / Woman shown on TV not Barbara who my husband knows: Mehul Choksi's wife

New Delhi: As a Dominica court is hearing the case of Indian-born fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, who was apprehended by Dominical police last week, Choksi's wife Priti Choksi on Wednesday said the woman who is rumoured to be Mehul's girlfriend is known to her husband and to his other acquaintances. "The woman was known to my husband and to his other acquaintances. She walked with my husband periodically when she was visiting Antigua. From what I have understood from people who have met her, the woman shown on media channels is not the same woman that they knew as Barbara," Priti Choksi said to news agency ANI.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne last week claimed that Mehul Choksi may have taken his girlfriend on a romantic trip to Dominica, from where he was apprehended.

Antiguan media released photographs of the woman, identified as Barbara Jarabica, with details of her education and employment. Choksi's lawyer in India Vijay Aggarwal issued a statement on Tuesday and said the woman in question was part of the team deployed to abduct him. Since the beginning, Choksi's lawyers have been claiming that what was being projected as an attempt to flee Antigua might be a case of kidnapping as Choksi was also beaten up. Aggarwal on Tuesday said that woman got friendly with the whole family and also shifted to a house near Choksi's residence in Antigua. On May 23, when Choksi disappeared, he was called by the woman at her house and was thrown in a yacht by a group of men, Aggarwal said earlier.

Choksi's wife Priti expressed anguish over the reports of physical torture and said, "If someone really wanted him back alive, why did they need to torture and abuse him physically and mentally? My husband has many health issues."

Meanwhile, the issue of Choksi's extradition has kicked up a political storm in Antigua where Choksi has been staying for the last three years as a legal citizen. Antiguan Prime Minister who has been pitching for Choksi's extradition straight to India from Dominica accused Antigua's opposition party of receiving fund from Choksi. The prime minister told ANI that Choksi changed his lawyer to a "well-known member" of the United Progressive Party (UPP), the opposition party.

According to local media reports, Mehul Choksi's brother Chetan Chinu Bhai Choksi met Dominica's Leader of the Opposition Lennox Linton on May 30 where some sort of agreement has been reached that Linton, in exchange for election funding, will press the matter in Parliament and push the kidnap theory. Reports also said that Linton received a token amount of US$ 200,000.

Choksi's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal refuted the reports though he confirmed that his brother has arrived in Dominica, but only to meet him and take care of him.