A London High Court judge on Tuesday ruled in favour of Bank of India in a civil recovery case against fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, holding him liable to pay the public sector lender over $10.7 million, or a little over Rs 100 crore, according to Naomi Canton’s TOI report.
Judge Simon Tinkler, delivering judgment in the London Circuit Commercial Court, said Modi was liable under a personal guarantee he had signed for a loan extended to one of his companies. "Mr Modi is liable under the personal guarantee to the bank for the principal amount due of $4.1 million. The interest calculated on the basis set out by the bank is to be added. Mr Modi has not provided any defence to explain why the bank was not entitled to that sum," Tinkler said.
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Bank of India had in July 2012 extended a loan to Firestar Diamond FZE, a Dubai-based company belonging to Modi. Modi signed a personal guarantee for the loan on August 3, 2013.
When reports of an alleged fraud on Punjab National Bank (PNB) involving Modi surfaced in early 2018, Bank of India moved to call in the loan. Demands sent to Firestar Diamond and Modi in March and April 2018 went unanswered.
In an email dated February 17, 2018, Modi himself had written to the bank acknowledging the crisis. "A media frenzy has led to immediate search and seizure of operations, which has in turn resulted in Firestar International Pvt Ltd and Firestar Diamond International Pvt Ltd effectively ceasing to be going concerns. This has thereby jeopardised our ability to discharge the dues of the group to the banks," he wrote.
The court had on March 8, 2024 already granted Bank of India summary judgment for the principal sum of $4.1 million plus interest. The bank subsequently served a further demand on Modi in October 2025.
At trial, Modi had contested the case on three grounds — that the personal guarantee was unenforceable, that he had not received valid demands from the bank, and that no material adverse effect had occurred to justify terminating the loan. The court rejected all three arguments.
On the question of whether Modi had received the bank's demands, Tinkler said he was satisfied that both the April 2018 and October 2025 demands had been delivered. The court noted that the October 2025 demand had also been sent to HMP Thameside prison in London, where Modi is currently lodged, and that Modi had himself provided a copy of the April 2018 demand to his solicitors in 2019.
"From mid-February 2018, it was reasonable to infer that the borrower and every company in the Firestar Group was likely to be materially and negatively affected" by the alleged PNB fraud, the judge said, adding that "the value of the guarantees provided by Mr Modi was very likely substantially impaired."
Nirav Modi, 49, has been in UK custody since his arrest in London in March 2019 in connection with the PNB fraud case. He is accused of using unauthorised Letters of Undertaking to obtain credit from overseas branches of Indian banks. The UK High Court dismissed his appeal to reopen extradition proceedings in March 2026, clearing the path for his return to India. Tuesday's ruling is a separate civil proceeding brought by Bank of India to recover dues under the personal guarantee.
