Nirav seeks UK court’s nod to challenge its extradition order

NEW DELHI: Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi has approached the UK high court for permission to challenge its decision to uphold his extradition to India before the Supreme Court on the grounds that he is a suicide risk due to a depressive illness, people familiar with the matter said.

Modi, accused in the ₹13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, sought to go into appeal earlier this week arguing that his health was ignored by the high court while handing down its decision to extradite him on November 9, the people cited above added.

The UK high court, while dismissing Modi’s appeal against extradition by a magistrate’s court in February 2021, accepted that Modi’s risk of suicide in the event of extradition may be characterised as “high” or “substantial” but concluded that “the risk of deterioration of underlying depression and the risk of suicide cannot be considered in a vacuum”.

“On the basis of the assurances that the Indian government has given, we accept that there will be suitable medical provision and an appropriate plan in place for the management and medical care of Mr Modi, which will be provided in the knowledge that he is a suicide risk (i.e. a person who, in the absence of preventative measures, may or will attempt suicide and will or may succeed),” Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-smith and Justice Robert Jay at the high court of justice, London, said in their order on November 9.

The judges noted that Nirav Modi neither is, nor is very likely to be, at the most severe end of the scale of depressive illness.