The fifth bail application of diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is one of the prime accused in the ₹13,578-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, has been turned down by a United Kingdom court. In April 2021, the Secretary of State of U.K.’s Home Department had ordered his extradition to India, but it has not been implemented so far.
Mr. Modi is currently languishing in privately run Thameside prison in Greenwich, where he was transferred in September last year from the Wandsworth jail. On April 16, he had moved yet another application before the Westminster Magistrate’s Court citing long incarceration. However, it was dismissed during the hearing on May 7. He continues to be in detention there, said an Enforcement Directorate (ED) official.
In the first week of January 2018, Mr. Modi had flown out of the country along with his family, days before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against him and others for allegedly cheating PNB of ₹6,498 crore. Subsequently, based on the CBI case, the ED also initiated a money laundering probe.
