THE UNITED KINGDOM HIGH COURT REJECTED NIRAV MODI'S APPLICATION AGAINST HIS EXTRADITION TO INDIA

The United Kingdom High Court rejected Nirav Modi's application against his extradition to India. The HC officials confirmed that the permission for appeal was rejected on Paper. The Fugitive diamond merchant is wanted in India in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

This rejection leaves Modi with one chance of an Oral hearing before the HC with a fresh appeal application within the next five days, following which the Court will decide whether it can proceed to a full hearing appeal.

BACKGROUND

Modi, along with his uncle Mehul Choksi is facing a probe by the CBI and ED for a large scale fraud on PNB by fraudulently obtaining loan agreements and LOUs. He is charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering; Modi is also facing charges with "Causing disappearance of evidence" and "criminal intimidation to cause death".

This year in February, the Westminster Magistrates Court of the UK, while observing a prima facie case of money laundering, ruled in favour of the extradition of Neerav Modi to India. His first extradition request was made by the Indian government on July 27th 2018. He is subjected to two criminal proceedings for the PNB scam, one by the CBI and another by the ED.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal