Fugitive India businessman Nirav Modi has lost his appeal to take his fight against extradition to the UK Supreme Court. The 51-year-old businessman now has very limited options to prevent being extradited to India, where he is wanted for allegedly cheating a government bank to the tune of over Rs 11,000 crore.
The diamond magnate, who is originally from Gujarat, had fled India in 2018 before details of his involvement in the fraud against Punjab National Bank (PNB) became public. Since his arrest in the UK in March 2019, he has been housed at a category-B men’s prison in Wandsworth, London.
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He has been charged for criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating, fraud, corruption, money laundering and embezzlement and is wanted by central agencies in India like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
In November, Modi had lost his appeal against extradition at the London High Court. Following this, he could have approached the UK Supreme Court only if the High Court was convinced that his case is of general public importance. Now, that door is also shut before Modi.
The fugitive businessman now has the option of appealing before the European Court of Human Rights. Modi’s main argument is that there exists a high risk of suicide if he is extradited, according to a Reuters report.
In the November judgement, Judge Jeremy Stuart-Smith had ruled that Modi could be kept safe at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. The judge added that the risk of suicide may be high, but that the arrangements at Arthur Road “will enable the authorities to cope properly with Mr Modi’s condition”.
Now, it is remains to be seen whether Modi can be extradited to India soon where he is due to face a sleuth of charges for his alleged fraudulent activities. His uncle Mehul Choksi, who is also accused of cheating PNB and is wanted by Indian authorities, had also fled India and took up citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda.
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