Nirav Modi Arrest on PNB Fraud Case: A top court in the UK had issued a warrant to arrest Nirav Modi on Tuesday, days after British home secretary Sajid Javid certified India’s request to extradite him.
Fugitive Indian diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested in London’s Holborn area on Tuesday by the Scotland Yard on India’s extradition request. He will be produced in a Westminster court later today.
The 48-year-old will produced before a District Judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London to be formally charged, following which he is expected to seek bail.
“Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities on Tuesday in Holborn. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Yesterday, a top court in the UK issued a warrant to arrest Nirav Modi, days after British home secretary Sajid Javid certified India’s request to extradite him to face charges of financial irregularities in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.
Nirav Modi’s arrest by the Scotland Yard triggered the first stage of the legal process for extradition. Sajid Javid’s certification was sent to the Westminster Magistrates’ Court last week.
Issuing of the arrest warrant implies that the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the conduct described in the request is an extradition offence, which includes the requirement for dual criminality.
In the case of businessman Vijay Mallya, whose extradition case is now in the appeals court, India sent the request towards the end 2016. It was certified by the home secretary on February 21, 2017. Mallya was arrested and bailed two months later on April 18, 2017, when his extradition hearings began.
Nirav Modi, whose presence in the UK was confirmed by British authorities in mid-2018, recently figured in a video released by The Daily Telegraph, walking on London streets and responding to queries by its reporters with “No comment.”
He was tracked down to a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor in an upscale tower block of luxury apartments, where rent is estimated to be around £17,000 a month, the newspaper reported.
Describing him as a “billionaire diamond tycoon who is India’s most wanted”, the report quoted unnamed government sources saying that he has been given a national insurance number, which is required to work legally in the UK.
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