File photo: Nirav Modi
NEW DELHI: ED and CBI, besides other agencies like the income tax, have together decided to make a joint submission before the Westminster court in London pledging that the agencies here in India will not file any fresh case against fugitive PNB scam accused Nirav Modi, and if at all it is necessitated anytime in future, it will be with the concurrence of UK court.The assurances include giving a blanket protection from any arrest once the fugitive is extradited to India, not to be booked in any other case, or interrogated by any other agency in any other case other than facing trial in pending cases of money laundering and corruption in which chargesheets have already been filed against him before special courts here.A few years ago the UK high court had turned down his appeal seeking to stop his extradition to India on the ground that his mental condition had deteriorated and that he might end his life.The court had then also accepted the assurances given by Modi govt about the conditions at Arthur Road jail — where the fugitive diamantaire would be lodged once he comes back, noting that India is a “friendly country”. The submission before the Westminster court will be made against an appeal filed by the incarcerated diamantaire seeking to reopen his extradition trial with prayers to stay his deportation cleared by the UK high court. The case has been scheduled for hearing on November 23.For the past several years, India has been fighting a tough legal battle in the UK courts seeking the extradition of the diamantaire, who was arrested in London in 2019 on an Indian extradition request, and has been behind bars for the last six years. In May this year, his bail application had been rejected for the eighth time, citing concerns of his disappearance and influencing witnesses.In July, his brother Nehal Modi, another accused in the PNB scam case, was arrested in the US by American authorities on charges of laundering the proceeds of crime. In multiple chargesheets filed in the PNB case during 2018 and 2019, ED had levelled serious charges against Nehal Modi, of destroying evidence and laundering proceeds of crime on behalf of his brother.“Nehal Modi was personally overseeing that all the accounts, records were destroyed and was influencing the employees/witnesses to conceal money trail and proceeds of crime,” sources said. The ED’s evidence against Nehal Modi includes his footprint in laundering huge stockpiles of gold, diamonds and cash consignments from Dubai and Hong Kong based entities of Nirav Modi.
