Lawyer for fugitive Mehul Choksi arrested in London on sexual assault charges

Indian criminal lawyer Vijay Aggarwal, who handles the extradition case of fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi, was taken into custody in London on Aug 11 after Metropolitan Police were alerted to alleged sexual assaults at a luxury Mayfair townhouse. Aggarwal, 57, is charged with four counts of sexual assault against two women, three incidents on a Sunday in early August and one on a Tuesday in late May, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

His personal assistant, 41-year-old Manpreet Kaur, faces two counts of intentionally encouraging the assaults by posting a bogus job advert and introducing the women to Aggarwal. Both defendants appeared together at Westminster magistrates’ court on Aug 13, were remanded, and their case has been sent to Southwark Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on Sept 10. Two additional individuals—a 23-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman—were arrested but later bailed. The two women who reported the assaults remain under specialist officer support, while Aggarwal continues to represent Choksi, who is detained in Belgium on an Indian extradition request linked to a massive Punjab National Bank fraud.