The Indian authorities are trying to extradite Nirav Modi from the UK to face charges of defrauding PNB worth Rs 7,000 crore, money laundering and also destroying evidence and intimidating witnesses…reports Asian Lite News
Fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi has filed an application before the UK high court for permission to appeal against his extradition to India in the UK Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the 51-year-old diamantaire lost an appeal on mental health grounds as the court stated that his risk of suicide was not such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering.
On November 9, the UK high court cleared the path for his extradition to India, which was seen as a big win for the CBI and the ED case against the businessman.
Indian authorities through Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will file their submission before the UK high court on the application of Nirav Modi, following which a judge will give a ruling on paper. The judges had said, “We are far from satisfied that Nirav Modi’s mental condition and the risk of suicide are such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him.”
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Their verdict also found every reason to accept that the government of India (GOI) will treat its assurances on Nirav’s medical care at Barrack 12 of Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai with ‘appropriate seriousness’.
Nirav Modi, who is currently behind bars at Wandsworth prison in London, had fled India when the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam was unearthed. Nirav Modi is the prime accused in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB scam.
The Indian authorities are trying to extradite Nirav Modi from the UK to face charges of defrauding PNB worth Rs 7,000 crore, money laundering and also destroying evidence and intimidating witnesses.
In case his attempt to have his appeal heard in the top court fails, in principle, then Nirav Modi can approach the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to try and block his extradition on grounds that he won’t receive a fair trial, news agency PTI reported. Then UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had ordered Nirav’s extradition based on Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in April 2021 and the case has been undergoing an appeals process since then. Nirav Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings in connection with the PNB scam. The CBI is probing a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.
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