Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi on Thursday accused Indian agencies of trying to abduct him, NDTV reported.

His legal team released an audio tape a day after he returned to Antigua and Barbuda from neighbouring Dominica. On July 12, the Dominica High Court granted bail to the fugitive businessman in an illegal entry case.

“I’m back home, but this torture has left permanent scars on my psychology and physically, rather, permanent scars on my soul,” Choksi said in the audio tape. “I couldn’t imagine after closing all my business and seizing all my properties, kidnapping attempt would be made on me by Indian agencies.”

The businessman said that he had been hearing about possible abduction attempts, but he “could never imagine that they [Indian agencies] could go to this extent”. He added that he will exercise his legal rights in Antigua, Times Now reported.

Choksi is a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda and has been staying there since 2018 after fleeing India.

“Although I have been seriously considering returning to India to prove my innocence, my medical condition is very bad,” he claimed in the tape. “It has worsened over the past 50 days of my kidnapping.”

On Thursday morning, Choksi returned to Antigua and Barbuda after nearly 51 days of custody in Dominica for illegal entry, which his lawyers claim was a kidnapping plan. He got bail on medical grounds to get help from a neurologist based in Antigua. He is expected to return to Dominica after he is certified fit to travel.

Choksi is wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate in India in connection with the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. He had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda, and was detained in Dominica the next day.

The businessman was later charged with illegally entering Dominica, and the island nation’s government declared him a prohibited immigrant. He, however, maintained that he was abducted and taken to Dominica to be interviewed by an Indian politician.

In June, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said he was not aware of any conclusive proof that Choksi had been abducted.