MUMBAI: Indian diamond merchant Mehul Choksi has been arrested in Belgium, his lawyer said on Monday, in connection with a case of alleged bank fraud.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi fled India in 2018 and are being accused of playing a central role in a $1.8-billion fraud involving Punjab National Bank (PNB), the country`s second-largest public lender.

The case is one of several bank scandals that sparked public outrage in the world`s fastest-growing major economy.

`My client was taken into custody on Saturday and at the moment he is in prison,` Vijay Aggarwal told reporters on Monday, adding that they would file an appeal for release on grounds that Choksi was not a flight risk and was in ill health.

The arrest was made following an extradition request by India based on two non-bailable warrants that were issued by a Mumbai court in 2018 and 2021, according to local media.

Aggarwal, when asked about the request, said they would argue that it was a `political` case and mount a defence on grounds that Indian prisons have inhumane conditions. His nephew Modi was dubbed a jeweller to the stars thanks to celebrity customers in Hollywood and India`s Hindi-language movie industry Bollywood.

Indian authorities have seized assets of Modi worth around $90 million including his jewellery business, overseas bank accounts, a London property worth around $7.8 million and two others in New York valued at $29 million.

In 2022, Modi, who is currently in custody in the United Kingdom, lost an appeal against extradition to India.-AFP