London: UK court on Monday, 26 October, rejected bail plea of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi for the seventh time.
Nirav Modi is wanted in India by Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case and has been at London’s Wandsworth Prison since his arrest in March 2019.
Modi will appear before a court next month, via video-link, for the second phase of his extradition trial.
The CBI and ED, seeking Modi’s extradition to India, are being represented by the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK. The fugitive businessman has applied for political asylum in UK after he was denied bail five times.
In July this year, the ED confiscated the fugitive diamantaire’s properties worth Rs 329.66 crore in Mumbai, Rajasthan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the UK. The movable and immovable assets were seized under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.
The assets included four flats at Samudra Mahal, the iconic building in south Mumbai’s Worli, a seaside farm house and land in Alibaug, a windmill in Jaisalmer, a flat in London, some flats in the UAE, shares and bank deposits. On 5 December 2019, the court declared him a fugitive economic offender.
The ED has filed a charge sheet against Choksi in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act Court in Mumbai.
India is currently making efforts to extradite Modi from the UK and his uncle Choksi from Antigua and Barbuda where he is now a citizen.