Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant has been living in the UK ever since he fled India. On Wednesday, the UK High Court rejected his application to appeal against his extradition to India.
The UK home secretary, Priti Patel, had ordered the extradition of Nirav Modi to India on the 15th of April 2021.
He has been accused of banking fraud against the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of close to $2 billion or approximately Rs. 14,000 crores by using Letters of Undertaking which is a form of credit facility which helps in facilitating international transactions. The appeal was lodged last month in the London High Court.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on the 23rd of June that it had transferred a portion of the assets that were confiscated in the case correlated to Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi, to the Centre as well as state-run banks.
With Nirav Modi’s appeal being rejected, his only option is to make his case with the high court in an oral hearing. For this, he would also need a renewed “leave to appeal” application so that a judge can decide if it can move forward or not.
To this, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said that if Nirav Modi’s appeal goes through, they would contest it on the behalf of the Government of India.
