Recent news articles by the Daily Mail have become a topic of discussion for providing misleading and inaccurate information on statements of a fugitive.
The reported article titled “Special envoy to Britain who lives in 8 million Mayfair mansion near Ritz planned a honeytrap plot kidnap diamond tycoon Caribbean Delhi’s orders” smells of a biased piece and lacks most of the facts that were part of the investigation.
Several parts of the article aim to portray Mehul Choksi as a victim instead of discussing the massive USD 2 billion fraud he committed back home in India.
Being a major news provider, Daily Mail’s journalist Andy Jehring attempted to influence the readers and derail the court proceedings associated with Mehul Choksi’s disappearance from Antigua and Barbuda in May 2021.
The article in the Daily Mail was clearly based on the statements given by Mehul Choksi to the court. Not to mention that he is backed by a highly-expensive team of lawyers who would make any effort to make their client look “innocent” in the eyes of the court.
The Daily Mail’s article gives misleading information, saying Mr Bath, an Indian-born and special representative to Britain, is involved in kidnapping Mehul Choksi on India’s orders by honey-trapping him. The article mentioned that Mr Bath flew from London to Antigua and Barbuda to kidnap Mehul Choksi, saying certain individuals, namely Gurjit Bhandal, Gurmit Singh and Barbara Jarabik, were allegedly involved in the abduction
In this concern, another article pointed out Daily Mail’s biased journalism and called upon the media group with a piece under the headline “Daily Mail under question for biased news to support Mehul Choksi,” published by Writeups 24.
The article showed a clear mirror to the Daily Mail, pointing out unethical reporting and providing clear information on how such kind of planned stances are utilizing the power of journalism in declaring an innocent person a criminal for personal benefits.
Notably, an evident depiction by the article mentioned that all the allegations put on Mr. Bath are according to the court claim filed by Mr Choksi and there is no such evidence to prove those claims.
Importantly, every person has the right to state anything in their personal favour and submit it to the court. Although, this does not state that everything a person says in his favour is true. One can even state the information to defame others.
Connecting to it, the duty here lies with the official to investigate things properly before coming to any decision. Considering Choksi, the part of all this is not an inappropriate thing as he has escaped from India after frauding a whooping US $2 billion from India, which evidently states that not all the statements provided by him can be easily trusted.
Even on this, the author of an article in Daily Mail mentioned, “The authorities finally filed a defence last week detailing steps taken since the kidnap and calling for the claim to be dismissed.” This clearly depicts that the authorities of Antigua and Barbuda have no evidence to believe that Mehul Choksi was abducted.
All the evidence found points towards Choksi that he is misleading the case by the use of money power.
The information provided by the Daily Mail on the same point addressed Mehul Choksi as a “Diamond tycoon” in their headline rather then calling him a fugitive who looted billions from India.
On this, the Commissioner of Police and Attorney General of Antigua and Barbuda had sought to dismiss the case as the evidence against him was insufficient. Even the Prime Minister of the Country, Gaston Browne, denied Mehul Choksi’s claims of kidnapping.
The article implies potential involvement of the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the case. Yet, in reality, Mehul Choksi’s UK-based lawyer, Michael Polak, has only written to the NCA asking for their involvement. Importantly, the NCA will not engage in the investigation unless they are explicitly requested to do so by the Antigua and Barbuda authorities.
Further, to check out the credibility of Choksi’s lawyer, Michael Polak, his speech at a Sikh Temple can be considered. In that speech, he mentioned that Avtar Singh Khanda, an anti-India activist, was poisoned by the Indian state, which was not the accurate. As the post-mortem report detailed that he died due to terminal blood cancer, West Midlands Police said.
Probing ahead, it has been added by Daily Mail that the legal team of Mehul Choksi have obtained the CCTV and other records. All the individuals accused by Mehul Choksi, including Mr Bath, Mr Gurmeet Singh, Mr Gurjit Bhandal and Ms Barbara Jarabik, never refused to be in the Caribbean in 2021. However, they maintained in all their statements that they were in Antigua and Barbuda but for totally different reasons and had no connection with his disappearance whatsoever.
Furthermore, the Daily Mail missed all the facts, including the statements of eyewitnesses, which were so clear to prove that the story narrated by Mehul Choksi holds no reality, which then news covered under this by Writeups 24 unveiled.
Writeups 24 reported that the Daily Mail author deliberately or in negligence avoided mentioning a comprehensive report compiled by US-based financial fraud investigator – Kenneth Rijock, which cross-references the statements given by Mehul Choksi and facts.
Not only this, the article also stated the journalists from Daily Mail received a bribe of £10,000 from Mehul Choksi via a PR agency working on his behalf.
All such evidence clearly stated that the allegation put on Mr Bath and others is just part of defaming them, and nothing true lies in the report presented by the Daily Mail.
