Nirav Modi second high profile fugitive to lose extradition battle

After fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi faced a setback on Thursday after a UK court ordered his extradition in connection with the Rs 13500 crore Punjab National Bank PNB scam case it became the second major order that the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI has managed to secure from the overseas court months after now defunct Kingfisher Airlines founder Vijay Mallya lost his appeal tooAccording to CBI sources in the Nirav Modi case which the agency registered in January 2018 the pressure was kept up in the court with all the evidenceA source said that senior officers like then Additional Director Praveen Sinha who is currently the acting CBI Director visited the UK and attended court hearings on two important dates when crucial evidence was being presentedThe source informed that the Director of Prosecution of CBI had also visited the UK and had met with the Crown Prosecution Service UKThe source said that constant communication between the CBI and the Crown Prosecution Service officials showed in the result The CPS was presenting evidence before the UK judge on CBIs behalfAnother CBI source said that this is a result of meticulous and painstaking investigation involving different governments and their agencies and the complex issues concerning the caseThe source said that Nirav Modis firm utilized LOUs fraudulently between 2011 and 2017In the case of Nirav Modi the investigating agencies were hopeful as a UK court in November 2020 ruled in favour of the Indian government by allowing the admissibility of evidence against himNirav Modi is wanted in India along with his uncle Mehul Choksi who headed the Gitanjali group in connection with the Rs 13500crore Punjab National Bank PNB fraud caseCurrently Nirav Modi is lodged in a London prison after his arrest by UK police in March 2019 while his uncle Choksi has become a citizen of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and BarbudaMeanwhile the CBI and ED which are fighting the legal battle in the United Kingdom for the extradition of Mallya are sure about his extradition after he lost an appeal in the Supreme Court on May 14 last yearMallya who is wanted in India for a Rs 9000crore loan defraud had approached the UK High Court which dismissed his appeal against extradition on April 20Last year the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA in an affidavit informed the Supreme Court of India that following the refusal of leave to appeal to Mallya his extradition to India should in principle have been completed within 28 days However the UK Home Office intimated that there is a further legal issue involved which needs to be resolved before the extradition takes placeThe MHA said that the UK has informed it that this separate legal issue is judicial and confidential in natureOn May 14 in a major setback Mallyas application for leave to appeal in the UK Supreme Court was rejected as the High Court declined to entertain his appeal against his extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering in connection with the unrecovered loans to his nowdefunct Kingfisher AirlinesThe liquor baron has been living in the UK since he fled India on March 2 2016 Mallya is also the first accused in India to be booked under the new Fugitive Economic Offenders ActIn 2019 a Mumbai court named Mallya as an offender under the Act empowering the probe agencies to seize his properties and assets spread across the worldIn December 2018 the CBI also managed to get the extradition of alleged middleman Christian Michel James a British national in connection with its probe into the Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case from the United Arab Emirates UAEThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever