Fugitive Nirav Modi Loses Bid For Supreme Court Appeal Against Extradition From UK To India

On Thursday, the fugitive diamond businessman and the prime accused in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, Nirav Modi, suffered a major setback as the UK High Court denied him permission to appeal against his extradition before the UK Supreme Court.

"The appellant's application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court is refused," Lord Justice Stuart Smith said in his statement.

The Telegraph

Nirav Modi can't appeal in UK SC

The judges also ruled that the "certification of a point of law be refused" that would have allowed his plea to progress to the higher court.

An appeal on the grounds of a point of law of general public importance is a high threshold that is not often met. This refusal significantly limits Modi's remaining legal options in the UK against extradition to India.

Appeal on mental health grounds also dismissed

Last month, he had lost an appeal on mental health grounds when the same two-judge High Court bench ruled that his risk of suicide was not such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him to India.

The dismissal of the High Court appeal last month marked a major win for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) case against the businessman, who has been in prison since his arrest on an extradition warrant in March 2019.

BCCL

PNB scam

Nirav Modi, the prime accused in the Rs 13,500 crore PNB scam, fled India in 2018 with his family and has been living in the UK ever since.

He was arrested in the UK in 2019 and has been behind bars.

In India, are three sets of criminal proceedings against him ¨C the CBI case of fraud on the PNB, which caused losses equivalent to over GBP 700 million, the ED case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings.

BCCL

Will Nirav Modi go the Vijay Mallya way?

While Modi now can't directly approach the UK SC against the extradition, it is still unclear when he can be deported to India.

He can still appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to try and block his extradition on the basis that he will not receive a fair trial.

Another economic offender wanted in India, who has also lost all options to challenge his extradition, Vijay Mallya, is still in the UK two years after the courts allowed his deportation.

The UK high court cleared Mallya's extradition in April 2020, but it has been held up due to what has been described as ¡°secret proceedings¡±.

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