Nirav Modi To Be Extradited To India As UK Court Rejects His Plea

Modi is currently undergoing extradition proceedings in the UK.

Nirav Modi

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New Delhi: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi will be extradited to India after his appeal was rejected by the London High Court.

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Modi is currently undergoing extradition proceedings in the UK.

The 51-year-old diamond businessman from Gujarat had fled the country after allegedly cheating a government bank of over ₹ 11,000 crore. 

Nirav Modi had appealed against being sent back to India to face trial in the fraud case linked to Punjab National Bank. However, he lost the plea in the London High Court on Wednesday.

Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay, who heard the plea earlier this year, delivered the verdict that allowed the fugitive businessman's extradition to India.

"...We are far from satisfied that Mr Modi's mental condition and the risk of suicide are such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him," news agency PTI quoted the court as saying.

Modi, who is lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-east London, was granted permission to appeal in the High Court on two grounds - under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to hear arguments if it would be “unjust or oppressive” to extradite Modi due to his mental state and Section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003, also related to mental health.

Now that he has lost this appeal hearing, Nirav Modi can approach the Supreme Court on a point of law of public importance, to be applied for to the top court against the High Court’s decision within 14 days of the High Court verdict.

Notably, Modi faces the charges in two cases, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.