This is a major development in the long-running PNB scam, and comes just a few years after the then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition to India in 2021.

This is a major development in the long-running PNB scam, and comes just a few years after the then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition to India in 2021.

This is a major development in the long-running PNB scam, and comes just a few years after the then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition to India in 2021.

Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi's extradition to India looms large, now that he has reportedly exhausted the last legal option available to him in the long-running Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam of ₹14,000 crore.

After trying every other legal option to avoid being extradited to India, which Modi has long claimed would lead to his ill-treatment and a loss of his rights, he finally appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The European Convention on Human Rights is an international treaty designed to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe, which is especially utilised in high-profile extradition cases.

A News18 report pointed out that after Modi approached the ECHR in April 2026, since the UK is a signatory to the treaty, it did not grant him relief, allegedly leaving him with no other legal options.

As a result, the report added that the UK government has begun the adminitrative formalities required to extradite him to the Indian authorities, which could take place at any time.

This is a major development in the long-running fraud and money laundering case, and comes just a few years after the then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition to India in 2021, after his 2019 arrest.

That sparked a series of attempts by Modi to legally block the extradition, which failed, one after the other, with the ECHR failure being the latest and last hurdle before his extradition from HMP Wandsworth, where he has been kept since 2019.

However, the report also pointed out a separate dispute about the payment of more than $11.5 million—including accrued interest—to the Bank of India.

This dispute, which the Bank of India has clarified was separate from the PNB scam, is related to a personal guarantee linked to a loan obtained by the Dubai-based Firestar Diamond FZE, a company that Modi founded.

TAGS