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 Modi neither is, nor is very likely to be, at the most severe end of the scale of depressive illness. “Second, he has so far displayed no features of psychotic illness. Third, although he has exhibited persistent suicidal ideation, he has neither attempted suicide or deliberate self-harm nor disclosed plans to do so, except in the most vague and general way. Fourth, the steps taken to render Barrack 12 (at Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison) safe and to ensure that there is effectively constant monitoring to reduce both the risk of attempted suicide and the prospect of suicide being committed,” said the judgment reviewed by HT.
{{/usCountry}}The judges noted that Modi neither is, nor is very likely to be, at the most severe end of the scale of depressive illness. “Second, he has so far displayed no features of psychotic illness. Third, although he has exhibited persistent suicidal ideation, he has neither attempted suicide or deliberate self-harm nor disclosed plans to do so, except in the most vague and general way. Fourth, the steps taken to render Barrack 12 (at Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison) safe and to ensure that there is effectively constant monitoring to reduce both the risk of attempted suicide and the prospect of suicide being committed,” said the judgment reviewed by HT.
{{/usCountry}}Explaining the legal process in the UK, one of the people cited above said “appeals against the high court decisions to the Supreme Court require permission (within 14 days) from the court below or the Supreme Court itself, which may be granted only if court below certifies that a point of general public importance is involved and it appears to the court below or the Supreme Court that the point ought to be considered”.
A final approval for extradition, once the legal process is over, has to be given by the UK home secretary.
HT reached out to Modi’s lead lawyer, Barrister Edward Fitzgerald, but did not get a response till the time of going to print.
Modi, 51, has been at Wandsworth prison on the outskirts of London since March 19, 2019 after he was arrested on the basis of India’s extradition request to Britain. He is accused of cheating PNB of ₹6,498 crore (the total fraud is worth ₹13,578 crore out of which around ₹7,000 crore is linked to his uncle Mehul Choksi).
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has so far attached Modi’s properties worth ₹2,650 crore under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He has also been declared a fugitive under the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act, which allows ED to confiscate properties of an accused abroad. His assets worth ₹1,389 crore have been confiscated under this law.