UK court begins hearing fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's extradition to India case

Modi’s lawyers have argued that a return to India would harm their client's mental health and place him at risk of suicide

The UK high court on Tuesday began hearing the case related to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s appeal against his extradition to India.

Earlier this August, Nirav Modi was granted permission to appeal against his extradition from the UK to India to face fraud charges on the grounds that a return to India would harm his mental health and place him at risk of suicide.

Modi’s lawyers had long argued that their client suffered from severe depression and would not receive adequate medical care if he is imprisoned at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai pending his court appearance.

They stated that his mental health condition had deteriorated further during his incarceration at Wandsworth Prison in South London following his arrest in London in March 2019 and the strict restrictions placed on prisons during the Covid-19 pandemic.

They had also introduced several medical experts to give evidence that Modi was at high risk of suicide.

Modi, once the jeweller to some of the biggest stars of Hollywood and Bollywood, stands accused of defrauding the state-owned Punjab National Bank of more than USD 2 billion through a carefully orchestrated scam involving dummy corporations and directors.

He is also charged by the Indian government with witness intimidation and destruction of evidence.

He has been held at Wandsworth Prison in London since his arrest in the British capital in March 2019.

• India