Following the order by the Westminster Magistrates' Court to have fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi extradited to India from the UK, the country’s Home Office has approved his handover.
According to an ANI report citing a CBI official, the UK Home Secretary has approved Nirav Modi’s extradition to India, where he will stand trial in connection with allegations that he cheated the Punjab National Bank of over Rs 13,000 crore.
This is not the end of Nirav Modi’s legal avenues, however, as he may still approach a higher court seeking relief. His petition claiming he would not receive a fair trial in India and that he might be considered a suicide risk had been struck down by the Westminster Court, which felt there was sufficient evidence against him for a corruption charge.
Modi faces a CBI case related to large-scale fraud against PnB through fraudulent obtaining of loan agreements, and an Enforcement Directorate (ED) case over laundering of the proceeds.
He was arrested in the UK on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard.
Very few Indians have been extradited from the UK to India since the signing of an extradition treaty between the two countries in 1992. Proceedings to extradite fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya are still ongoing, with the Centre telling the Supreme Court in January it was taking all efforts to extradite him. Like Nirav Modi, Mallya was picked up by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant in 2017—but remains out on bail now. A pending legal issue was cited as the reason he could not be extradited.
However, recently, a drug kingpin accused of running an international supply chain of the “Meow Meow” drug was successfully extradited from the UK, with full coronavirus precautions.
