Since the arrest of diamond Merchant Nirav Modi on an extradition warrant in March last year. The UK court on Monday rejected the latest bail plea lodged in the London prison. The application was made on the basis of ‘new evidence’.
West Minster Magistrates, Court District Judge Samuel Goozee, rejected the plea as he was not convinced in previous bail rejections in Modi’s case. Justice Ian Dove at Modi’s last High Court bail hearing in March this year had said, “My central concern of a risk of absconding are not obviated by the measures presented.”
A Senior CBI official said in New Delhi, on Monday’s development. “The repeated rejection of bail application is a result of excellent coordination among the CBI, the Ministry of External Affairs and Crown Prosecution Service of the United Kingdom.”
As part of the defence arguments Clare Montgomery, told Westminster Magistrates’ Court “He has increasingly suffered from severe depression and the latest assessment shows he is on the threshold of being subject to hospitalisation unless given proper treatment and his fitness to plead may be in doubt here or in the requesting state (India) given a high risk of suicide,”
Justice Goozee presided over the arguments for and against the case for his extradition brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, at a five-day hearing held in September. One Final hearing for closing submission for both sides is expected in December or early next year.
In May, the first set of hearing in this case was held to establish a prima facie case and determine if the jeweller has a case to answer before the Indian courts with hearings in the September.
On November 03, Modi is scheduled to appear via video link from Wandsworth prison in south west London in his extradition case. Judge Goozee will be presented with arguments to determine admissibility of evidence provided by the Indian authorities.
In the Charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank scam case, the 49-year-old jeweller, fighting extradition to India has made around six previous attempts at bail at the magistrates’ court as well as at the High Court level.
To accommodate corona virus-related social distancing norms, the case is being heard in partial remote setting.
