The Home Ministry of UK granted approval for extradition of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering in Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. On February 25, a UK court had ruled in favour of extradition of Modi. However, Nirav Modi still has the option of challenging his extradition to India in a higher court. He now has 14 days to make an application for leave to appeal to the higher court. He may seek leave to appeal against the decisions of both the District Judge and the Home Secretary.
In February, the Westminster Court ruled that Modi not only has a case to answer in the Indian courts but that there is no evidence to suggest he would not receive a fair trial in India. Modi lost his nearly two-year-long legal battle against extradition on all grounds as District Judge Samuel Goozee also concluded that there are no human rights concerns that his medical needs would not be addressed as per several Indian government assurances.
Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of LoUs or loan agreements, and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death added to the CBI case.
The jeweller has been in prison since he was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard and his attempts at seeking bail have been repeatedly turned down.
Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail has kept a special cell ready to lodge him. The jail official said that once Nirav Modi is brought to Mumbai, he will be kept in one of the three cells of barrack number 12, which is a high security barrack.
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