Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s extradition to India may be on hold because of a second asylum claim by him, HT learns.
UK tells India Nirav Modi cannot be extradited yet over ‘secret proceedings’ (File photo)
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New Delhi has won in all extradition proceedings concerning Modi in UK courts, but his repatriation appears to have hit a roadblock, with British authorities informing their Indian counterparts that he cannot yet be extradited due to certain “secret proceedings”, highly placed officials told HT.
London has neither officially nor unofficially shared with New Delhi the nature of these “secret proceedings”, but this is generally the term used for a plea for asylum.
Modi made an earlier asylum plea in 2018, but this was rejected last year. But Indian officials aren’t ruling out the possibility of Modi making a fresh asylum claim in the UK on humanitarian grounds — particularly by citing the Sanjay Bhandari case and arguing that there has been a significant change in the circumstances since his previous application.
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Over the past year, Modi unsuccessfully argued before the UK courts that, if extradited to India, he would be “interrogated and subjected to torture and ill-treatment”. To support his arguments, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud mastermind cited the February 28, 2025 judgement of the UK high court in the Sanjay Bhandari case, which held that “Bhandari would be at real risk of extortion, torture or violence in Tihar jail, from other prisoners or prison officials”, and consequently refused his extradition to India.
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Over the past year, Modi unsuccessfully argued before the UK courts that, if extradited to India, he would be “interrogated and subjected to torture and ill-treatment”. To support his arguments, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud mastermind cited the February 28, 2025 judgement of the UK high court in the Sanjay Bhandari case, which held that “Bhandari would be at real risk of extortion, torture or violence in Tihar jail, from other prisoners or prison officials”, and consequently refused his extradition to India.
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The UK high court, on March 25, dismissed Modi’s plea to reopen the extradition, which was ordered by a Westminster’s court in London in February 2021, closing all legal doors for him. Following the decision, the jailed diamantaire last month also approached the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg under rule 39 of the European convention on human rights seeking relief citing risk to his rights, which is yet to be heard. Indian officials said rule 39 requests are usually rejected.
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A senior government officer, without going into the specifics, said, “we had an interaction with our British counterparts to know about the status of Nirav Modi’s repatriation. They informed us that he cannot be extradited yet due to some secret proceedings”.
Accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of ₹6,498 crore — part of a total ₹13,578 crore fraud, with around ₹7,000 crore linked to his uncle Mehul Choksi — Modi has been in a UK prison since his arrest by Scotland Yard on March 19, 2019, on the basis of India’s extradition request.
India has informed UK authorities that Modi will be housed at Arthur Road prison in Mumbai. New Delhi has also given sovereign guarantees to the UK courts and the government that Modi would not be interrogated by any of the agencies and will face trial in court in the existing case.
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Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018. The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth ₹2,598 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and ₹981 crore has been restored to the victim banks.
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.
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Home/India News/‘Secret proceedings’ delay fugitive Nirav Modi’s extradition from UK to India again
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