Ex-SC judge provides opinion for Nirav Modi’s extradition petition

Justice (retired) Deepak Verma provided expert opinion on behalf of Nirav Modi, based on which the businessman sought to reopen his extradition proceedings

New Delhi: Justice (retired) Deepak Verma, a former Supreme Court judge, has provided an expert opinion on behalf of Nirav Modi, based on which the fugitive businessman has recently sought to reopen his extradition proceedings in London, people familiar with the development said.

Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender under the FEO Act, 2018. (HT archives)

Verma is learnt to have supported Modi’s plea, in which the jailed diamantaire claimed that if extradited, he could be interrogated by multiple agencies and would not receive a fair trial in India’s judicial system, according to an officer who requested anonymity.

The former Supreme Court judge, who also served as Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, previously appeared as an expert witness for Vijay Mallya in a bankruptcy case in London filed by Indian banks led by the State Bank of India. The former liquor baron lost the bankruptcy proceedings in April this year.

“The expert witness has questioned our jails and judicial system to back fugitive Modi’s case,” said the officer cited above, referring to Verma’s testimony.

When contacted, Verma declined to comment, saying, “I don’t comment on ongoing matters.”

As first reported by HT on September 19, Modi’s plea to reopen the extradition proceedings was accepted by a Westminster court in August this year, with a hearing scheduled for November 23.

Seeking dismissal of the proceedings at the initial stage, the Indian government has already sent a letter of assurance -- a sovereign guarantee of sorts -- to Britain, stating that if extradited, the fugitive diamantaire “will only face trial” in India and “won’t be interrogated or taken into custody by any other agency.”

India maintains that Nirav Modi’s extradition has already reached finality.

A second officer cited above said they will “vehemently oppose the expert testimony. All this is part of Nirav Modi’s last minute attempts to save himself because he has no legal options left”.

Accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of ₹6,498 crore [part of a total ₹13,578 crore fraud, with around ₹7,000 crore linked to his uncle Mehul Choksi], Nirav Modi has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison on the outskirts of London since March 19, 2019. He was arrested by Scotland Yard on the basis of India’s extradition request.

On February 25, 2021, Sam Gooze, a district judge at Westminster magistrates’ court ordered his extradition to India. The order was upheld by the UK High Court on November 9, 2022. The high court also rejected his plea to appeal to the UK Supreme Court, effectively exhausting his legal options.

Earlier, during his extradition proceedings in the UK courts, Modi used the expert evidence of Justice Markandey Katju (retired SC judge), which Gooze termed as “not reliable”.

“I attach little weight to Justice Katju’s expert opinion. Despite having been a former Supreme Court judge in India until his retirement in 2011, his evidence was in my assessment less than objective and reliable. His evidence in Court appeared tinged with resentment towards former senior judicial colleagues. It had the hallmarks of an outspoken critic with his own personal agenda,” Gooze said in the extradition judgement.

Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender under the FEO Act, 2018. His assets worth ₹2,598 crore have been attached by ED under the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA), and ₹981 crore has been restored to the defrauded banks.

Indian agencies are also pursuing legal proceedings in the UK to transfer to India overseas assets worth ₹130 crore linked to Nirav Modi.

Last week, as reported by HT, his uncle and co-accused in Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud , Mehul Choksi’s extradition was ordered by an Antwerp court of appeals. The Belgian court ruled that Choksi is neither the subject of a “political trial” nor does he run the risk of torture or denial of justice in India, while also dismissing his argument that he was kidnapped in Antigua and Barbuda at the behest of Indian authorities in May 2021.