Nirav Modi Extradition: UK High Court To Hear Fugitive Diamantaire's Appeal Tomorrow

Nirav Modi's lawyers have long argued that their client suffered from severe depression and would not receive adequate medical care if he is imprisoned at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.

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New Delhi: UK High Court is going to hear fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's extradition appeal on Tuesday, news agency ANI reported.

This comes after Billionaire fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi was in August granted permission to appeal against his extradition to India on the grounds that a return would harm his mental health and place him at risk of suicide.

As per ANI's report, the High Court judge Martin Chamberlain had ruled that Nirav Modi should be given a "substantial hearing" to appeal against an earlier ruling at Westminster Magistrate's Court in London.

The prior court ruling had deemed Nirav Modi fit to be returned to India to face the charges of defrauding the Punjab National Bank of more than USD 1 billion as well as further charges of money laundering, witness intimidation and destruction of evidence.

Nirav Modi's lawyers have long argued that their client suffered from severe depression and would not receive adequate medical care if he is imprisoned at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai pending his court appearance.

They claimed that his mental health condition had deteriorated further during his incarceration at Wandsworth Prison in South London following his arrest in London in March 2019 and the strict restrictions placed on prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic, ANI reported. 

They had also introduced several medical experts to give evidence that Modi was at high risk of suicide.

In his appeal to the High Court, Modi's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald QC had argued that the ruling by Westminster Magistrate's Court judge Samuel Goozee would violate his client's human rights as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Once the jeweller to some of the biggest stars of Hollywood and Bollywood, Nirav Modi had a steep fall as he was accused of defrauding the state-owned Punjab National Bank of more than USD 2 billion through a carefully orchestrated scam involving dummy corporations and directors.

He is also charged by the Indian government with witness intimidation and destruction of evidence.

The fugitive diamantaire has been held at Wandsworth Prison in London since his arrest in the British capital in March 2019. His extradition was ordered by judge Samuel Goozee sitting at Westminster Magistrate's Court in London in February. 

(With Agency Inputs)