NEW DELHI: Rohan Choksi, son of absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi, is fighting in a high-stakes legal battle with Enforcement Directorate (ED) to save his Mumbai apartment from attachment and seizure, citing “not guilty by association”, said a senior official.
The appellate tribunal decided last week to send the case back for fresh review after Rohan Choksi appealed, citing that he is “not guilty by association”.
He gets a window to retain his home even as his father fled India and continues to evade authorities.
However, in December 2025, the highest court of Belgium rejected Mehul Choksi's appeal against India's extradition request.
It is not a simple flat. Spread across the 9th and 10th floors of the Gokul Building on Walkeshwar Road in Mumbai is valued at Rs 24 crore and it comes with six car parking spaces and an attached terrace.
Rohan Choksi has made a plea for why he is being punished for his father's alleged sins. He said that the property was originally purchased by the Mehul Choksi Family Trust way back in 1994, when Rohan was just a child and back then the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) never even existed.
He also made an appeal that his flat was transferred in his name on November 1, 2013 and his father had allegedly committed fraud at Punjab National Bank between 2015 and 2017 – a full two years after Rohan became the property's owner.
“How can a property acquired before the crime be considered proceeds of that crime?,” Rohan makes an appeal. He also begged that he was never part of any crime and he was also not named in the FIR and chargesheet.
He appealed that ED is trying to punish him for being Mehul Choksi's son, which violates basic principles of justice.
Unlike his father, Rohan has remained in India and appeared before authorities when required.
However, ED had stated that Rohan Choksi is not an innocent bystander, but an integral part of his father's financial empire made through proceeds of crime.
The agency said that during probe, they found that Rohan controls 99.44 percent shares in Rohan Mercantile Private Limited, a company where Mehul Choksi serves as director.
The agency said that it is a dummy company used for fake transactions where no actual goods changed hands.
Similarly, Rohan holds 99.99 percent shares in another company, Lustre Industries Private Limited, also directed by his father. The agency pointed out that they have traced Rs 81.6 lakh that came from Asian Diamond & Jewellery FZE – a direct recipient of fraud proceeds – to Merlin Luxury Group in Singapore.
The Singapore company is owned by Mehul Choksi through Lustre Industries, where Rohan is the majority shareholder.
The agency said that Mehul Choksi deliberately transferred the Walkeshwar property to his son in 2013 as a “calculated move” anticipating future legal troubles.
Between 2015 and 2018, Mehul Choksi and his companies – Gitanjali Gems Limited, Gili India Limited, and Nakshatra Brands Limited – allegedly defrauded Punjab National Bank of over Rs 6,138 crore through a sophisticated scheme.
The CBI registered the initial FIR on February 15, 2018, after Punjab National Bank's Zonal Office in Mumbai filed a complaint.
The tribunal found significant confusion in the lower court's order.
The Adjudicating Authority had apparently mixed up two different properties and failed to clearly rule on Rohan’s Rs 24 crore flat specifically.
The tribunal noted that while property owned by Rohan Mercantile Private Limited was clearly confirmed for attachment, Rohan's personal flat was inadvertently not mentioned in the final conclusions.
This has given Rohan a second chance to argue his case. The court observed: "There is nothing on record that any of the attached properties vide said PAO was directed to be released by the Adjudicating Authority. It is quite clear that inadvertently the property at serial no. 24 is not mentioned in para 17 & 18 of the impugned order which was owned by present Appellant Rohan Choksi."
So far, the federal investigation agency has issued nine provisional attachment orders totalling Rs 2,565.90 crore. But this represents less than half of the total fraud amount of Rs 6,138.73 crore.