London court rejects fugitive Nirav Modi's bail plea for seventh time

(PTI) London, Ta. Monday, October 26, 2020

A British court has rejected a new bail application filed by Nirav Modi, an Indian fugitive diamond merchant who was arrested in March last year on an extradition warrant and is currently lodged in a London jail.

This time the application was made on the basis of 'new evidence', but Westminster Magistrates' Court Judge Samuel Goose did not agree to an order contrary to his earlier order.

The 40-year-old Modi, who has been fighting against the decision to extradite a આરોપી 2 billion Punjab National Bank scam money laundering and fraud accused to India, has been granted bail almost six times by the high court and magistrate level.

However, with strict conditions like detention and a security bond of 40 4 million, each application was rejected. Reacting to a plea rejected by a London court on Monday, a CBI official in New Delhi said the repeated denials of bail were the result of better co-ordination between the CBI, the Foreign Office and Britain's Crown Prosecution Service.

During the hearing of Modi's bail application in the High Court in March this year, Justice Ian Dove said, "The steps taken have not allayed my concern about the risk of fleeing." Modi's team of lawyers offered a number of steps for bail, including a 24-hour electronic tag, private security guard service and strict checking of all equipment, including telephones.