Nirav Modi's plea dumped, UK High Court orders extradition to India

Fugitive Economic Offender Nirav Modi has lost his appeal, as UK High Court orders extradition to India to face fraud and money laundering charges. The high court dismissed the 51-year-old diamond merchant's petition against his extradition to face Indian courts in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case.

The verdict was delivered by Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay after extensive hearing on the appeal against District Judge Sam Goozee's Westminster Magistrates' Court ruling in favour of extradition last February. The 51-year-old businessman is currently lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-east London. 

Nirav faces two sets of criminal proceedings, one with the Central Bureau of Investigation case linked to a large-scale fraud upon PNB by means of obtaining fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements. The other case is the one launched by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to money laundering. 

The CBI has also charged him with intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death and causing the disappearance of evidence. Earlier last month, the high court observed that the UK must honour its extradition treaty obligations considering India is a friendly foreign power. 

The court had said that the government need not pick holes in the Indian side's assurances that diamantaire would be given adequate medical care at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai. Modi is facing charges of fraud and money laundering. 

During the hearing, Nirav's counsel told the two-judge bench that he posed a high risk of suicide due to his depressive state. The lawyers also claimed that Nirav's depression would worsen if he were to be sent to a hostile environment, where his guilt has been pre-judged, the media has been vitriolic, politicians have demonised him, and people have 'burnt his effigies'.

The defence had also claimed that the Executive did not always abide by the rule of law even though the judiciary in India is independent. The Crown Prosecution Service, however, contended on behalf of the Indian government that safeguards like access by private medical practitioners, daily visits by Nirav's lawyers and a multidisciplinary medical team agreeing on a care plan within days of his arrival in India.

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• Nirav Modi
• Extradition