UK court rejects Nirav Modi's plea to reopen case against extradition

New Delhi/London, March 26 : Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi suffered a setback after the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division in London, rejected his petition seeking to reopen proceedings against his extradition order to India.

The case was argued by the Crown Prosecution Service advocate, assisted by a dedicated team from the Central Bureau of Investigation, which included investigating officers who had travelled to London to support the hearing.

The application to reopen the case was filed on the basis of the Bhandari judgment, a ruling delivered by a UK High Court in the case of defence middleman Sanjay Bhandari.

In that matter, Bhandari had argued that he could face torture if extradited to India, and the court had declined his extradition on humanitarian grounds.

Citing the same precedent, Nirav Modi contended that he too would face a risk of torture if sent back to India. However, officials from the CBI presented arguments countering this claim during the proceedings.

While delivering its decision, the UK High Court observed that the petition filed by Nirav Modi did not meet the threshold of exceptional circumstances required to justify reopening the case. The court noted that the grounds presented were not sufficient and held that it would not be appropriate to revisit the earlier ruling.

Nirav Modi is wanted in India in connection with the Punjab National Bank fraud case, which involved the alleged use of fraudulent guarantees issued in the name of the state-run lender to obtain overseas loans.

He had left India in January 2018, shortly before the CBI initiated its probe into the scam.

Following his arrest in the United Kingdom in 2019, British courts had approved his extradition to India. The courts, while considering the case, had accepted assurances regarding his treatment in India and found no legal impediments to his extradition, subsequently dismissing his earlier appeals.