A London court has allowed a plea by fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India on fraud and money laundering charges, to adjourn a trial in an unrelated Bank of India unpaid loan case until March over U.K. prison delays.

The 54-year-old accused, fighting extradition to India in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam, was shifted from Thameside prison in South London to HMP Pentonville, North London, in October to facilitate an appearance at the High Court in London.

At an online review hearing for the $8-million Bank of India case on Friday (December 20, 2025), Judge Simon Tinkler partially granted Mr. Nirav’s application to adjourn the eight-day January trial by a few weeks until March 23 next year, following delays by U.K. prison authorities in providing access to important legal paperwork.

“There must, in my judgment, be some doubt as to whether those papers will ever make their way to Nirav Modi if they indeed currently still exist,” Justice Tinkler noted.

“It does seem to me that the absence of the disclosure bundle, in particular, at a date which is now only four weeks before a trial of a significant amount of money does put Nirav Modi in the position where I am not satisfied that the trial would be fair were it to go ahead.

“Accordingly, I am proposing to grant his application for an adjournment. I see, however, no reason for an adjournment until October,” he ruled.

Barrister James Kinman, who appeared on behalf of Nirav Modi, reiterated the argument from a previous review hearing earlier this month that his client would be at a “substantial disadvantage” if the trial was not delayed. He also claimed that recent Indian press reports did not provide the “full picture at all” over Nirav’s “confidential process” barring his extradition, believed to refer to an asylum application which reportedly concluded in August.

“There is more to it,” he claimed, adding that while he “can’t share” any further details in the matter, Nirav Modi is unlikely to be extradited to India before October 2026.

Bank of India’s barrister, Tom Beasley, argued against a lengthy adjournment to ensure a trial can take place before the accused is extradited to India in the PNB case.

“Modi is prepared to rely on it [confidential process barring extradition], without giving any detail,” he said. Mr. Beasley reiterated that it would prove “very hard” to conduct a proper trial in the Bank of India case if the accused were extradited out of the U.K. jurisdiction.

Nirav Modi’s shift between the two prisons, both Category B men’s prisons for relatively low-risk convicts, has caused considerable complications in the case. Justice Tinkler stressed in his ruling that the prison authorities must comply with their obligations to ensure the prisoner’s access to documents in preparation for his defence.

Nirav Modi also failed to be produced for the virtual hearing due to a communication error between the court and prison officials.

Bank of India, represented by RWK Goodman, is pursuing the diamantaire’s personal guarantee related to a loan to Dubai-incorporated Firestar Diamond FZE.

Nirav Modi has chosen to represent himself as a “Litigant in Person” in the matter and is now the sole witness in the case, having missed the deadline to depose an Indian law expert.

Meanwhile, Nirav Modi has been behind bars in London since his extradition-related arrest in March 2019 and is currently said to be sharing a cramped cell where he is “forced to work from his lap”.

Earlier this week, Lord Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay presided over a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London to consider his application to reopen the extradition case on the grounds that he faced risk of torture in India.

That hearing has also been adjourned to March-April 2026 after the Indian authorities submitted “chunky assurances” to counter Nirav Modi’s claim.

It also emerged in court on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) that a “confidential process” related to a legal bar to the extradition, believed to be an unconfirmed asylum application heard separately, had presumably concluded in failure in August.

There are three sets of criminal proceedings against him in India — the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case of PNB fraud, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud, and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings.

In April 2021, then U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel had ordered his extradition to face these charges in the Indian courts after a prima facie case was established against him. Nirav Modi has since made several unsuccessful appeals and bail applications.

Published – December 20, 2025 07:41 pm IST

Nirav Modi, in prison for over six years, has told a United Kingdom court there are “sensational developments” to come when his Indian extradition case on fraud and money laundering charges reopens for a hearing in London next month.

The 54-year-old fugitive diamantaire appeared in the dock before High Court Judge Simon Tinkler at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Friday (October 17, 2025) to present his defence in an unrelated case, involving an over $8 million unpaid Bank of India debt.

The Judge turned down Mr. Modi’s application for a stay on the proceedings on the grounds of technical and medical constraints in prison, which is set to proceed to a trial scheduled in January 2026.

“They (Bank of India) refer to my extradition… I’m still here. There will be some sensational developments, and I have never used these words before,” said Mr. Modi, during a pre-trial review hearing.

The fugitive diamond merchant, wanted in India in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case, told the court he was “extremely hopeful” of either being discharged or granted bail after the court agreed to accept new evidence despite a “high bar” in such matters.

The U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed that Nirav Modi “has lodged an application to reopen his (extradition) appeal”, with the Indian authorities submitting their response ahead of a hearing expected towards the end of November.

Defending himself as a “litigant in person”, Mr. Modi read from copious handwritten notes as he addressed the Judge. Officers sat guard as their prisoner, dressed in a worn-out white t-shirt and pink track pants, spoke in mumbled tones about struggles with his eyesight and lengthy delays over access to a computer behind bars, which he stressed made any trial unfair and imbalanced.

“I understand this is an adversarial process, and they (Bank of India) can say anything against me. But they keep on making assumptions; I would say, spend one day in prison… There needs to be some basic common sense,” he said, appearing to lose his calm at one stage.

Bank of India, represented by barrister Tom Beasley and RWK Goodman’s Milan Kapadia, are pursuing Mr. Modi’s personal guarantee related to a loan to Dubai-incorporated Firestar Diamond FZE. They argued that a stay on the proceedings would be unfair to the bank, as it would push the long-pending claim off indefinitely.

“If he is extradited, he will likely remain in custody… He will also be in a different time zone,” Beasley told the court, adding that the bank “remains sceptical” about Mr. Modi’s “claimed lack of funds”.

Justice Tinkler ruled that on balance the need to preserve the court’s timetable outweighs other considerations and that all efforts to ensure an “equality of arms” in the case have been made.

“It is clear that some (medical) issues do affect his ability to work and will, in all likelihood, affect his ability to participate in the trial without reasonable adjustments being made,” the Judge said, referencing a confidential medical report submitted to him.

However, with the trial listed for seven days in January, the Judge concluded that it was sufficient time to make adjustments to meet all medical needs.

He also noted that the prison authorities have indicated that a computer will be made available to Mr. Modi in a week’s time, even as hard copies of all documents will be sent over to him ahead of another pre-trial hearing in early December.

Mr. Modi’s in-person court appearance after recent video links followed a “production order” by the court. It triggered some legal complexity of its own towards the end of the day-long hearing, as Mr. Modi had to be sent to HMP Pentonville prison in north London.

The businessman appeared apprehensive about this shift from HMP Thameside in south London, where he has been lodged over the past few months, and appealed for the court to include a single-occupancy cell request in the court order.

The Judge said while that was not within the court’s purview, he had added directions for either all his paperwork to be moved over to him or for him to be returned to Thameside at the earliest.

Also read: PNB-Nirav Modi case | Chronology of events

Nirav Modi has been behind bars in London since his arrest in March 2019 and has made several bail attempts, which have all been rejected on the grounds of him posing a flight risk — most recently in May this year.

There are three sets of criminal proceedings against him in India — the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case of PNB fraud, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings. 

In April 2021, then U.K. home secretary Priti Patel had ordered his extradition to face these charges in the Indian courts after a prima facie case was established against him. He had since exhausted his legal avenues to contest the order until recently, when his application to reopen his appeal was accepted in the UK and is set to be heard next month.

Published – October 19, 2025 06:36 am IST

New Delhi:

Properties worth Rs 14,131 crore – that once belonged to Vijay Mallya – have been seized and handed to public and private sector banks to pay off a part of the fugitive businessman’s substantial debts, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament Tuesday.

Ms Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha the Enforcement Directorate had, in total, restored properties worth Rs 22,280 crore to pay back debts of wanted individuals like Mr Mallya, Mehul Choksi, and Nirav Modi, and that the fight against economic offenders is set to continue.

The restored sum includes Rs 1,052 crore from Mr Modi and Rs 2,565 crore from Mr Choksi. A sum of Rs 17.5 crore in the National Spot Exchange Ltd, or NSEL, case was also restored.

“In money laundering cases, the ED has successfully restored properties valued at Rs 22,280 crore… we have not left anyone. Even if they fled the country, we have gone after them.”

“… it is important to recognise we have not left (out) anybody. We will make sure the money… which has to go back to banks… will go back,” Ms Sitharaman declared.

The Finance Minister’s staunch defence of the federal agency follows question marks last week over its conviction rate; that low figure – less than five per cent over the past five years – provided Congress leader Randeep Surjewala with ammunition to attack the government in Parliament.

In response to a question asked in the House, Mr Surjewala was told the ED had filed over 900 cases under the strict Prevention of Money Laundering Act, or PMLA, from 2019 to 2023.

Of these, only 42, or 4.6 per cent, have resulted in conviction.

This, the Congress leader claimed, was proof of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s “witch hunt” against opposition leaders; the opposition has routinely accused the BJP of using federal agencies like the ED to file false charges against rival parties and politicians to silence them.

The low conviction rate was also flagged by the Supreme Court in August; the top court reprimanded the ED, saying, “You (the agency) needs to look at the quality of prosecution.”

Meanwhile, with regard to tracking down and bringing back ‘black money’, or funds illegally acquired and parked abroad, Ms Sitharaman said the Black Money Act (2015) has had a positive impact on taxpayers and Indian citizens disclosing foreign assets. She said the number of taxpayers disclosing such had gone up to two lakh in 2024/25, from 60,467 in 2021/22.

And, under that law, as of June this year, nearly 700 cases had been filed – and 163 prosecutions initiated – to bring back over Rs 17,000 crore. This, the Finance Minister, said, includes investigations into widely publicised cases like the Panama, Paradise, and Pandora leaks.

A multi-agency group is conducting a detailed investigation into these cases, she said.

Ms Sitharaman’s answers in Parliament this week also follow a sit-down last month between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart, Keir Starmer, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil. Mr Modi urged Mr Starmer to expedite the extradition of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. India is also trying to extradite Sanjay Bhandari, an accused in illegal arms deals.

Vijay Mallya is the primary accused in a bank loan default case and fled India in 2016, while Nirav Modi is wanted by Indian authorities for defrauding the Punjab National Bank.

With input from agencies

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

London:

Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges, has been transferred out of one of the largest and most overcrowded prisons in the UK to a privately-run facility in London, it emerged on Thursday.

The 52-year-old former billionaire was due to appear at a magistrates’ court hearing in relation legal costs, or fines, amounting to GBP 150,247.00 ordered by the High Court in London related to his failed extradition appeal proceedings. However, the case had to be adjourned at the last moment to November as Barkingside Magistrates’ Court in east London was unable to track down Nirav in time for his videolink appearance.

“He was moved to HMP (His Majesty’s Prison) Thameside from HMP Wandsworth as an internal transfer, which the court was unaware of until today,” a court official said.

The news of the transfer comes days after a major manhunt was launched after a terrorist suspect escaped Wandsworth prison in south-west London.

While Daniel Khalife was later nabbed and is back behind bars now, UK Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told the media earlier this month that 40 inmates had been moved out of the prison after the high-profile security breach “out of an abundance of caution”.

The escape had raised serious questions around alleged understaffing and overcrowding at Wandsworth, where Nirav had been lodged since his arrest on an extradition warrant in March 2019.

It would now seem Nirav was among that group of 40 and is now lodged at Thameside prison in south-east London, also reportedly facing overcrowding issues of its own. However, the level of security at Nirav’s new quarters remains unchanged as a Category B men’s prison, similar to Wandsworth.

HMP Thameside is described as London’s only private prison, which can hold around 1,232 convicted and on-remand male prisoners. As a relatively new-build prison, it was completed in March 2012 and is run by the firm Serco.

Last year, Nirav had lost his legal battle in the highest UK court against being extradited to India in the estimated USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam case. But his case is now said to be “statute barred”, indicating further pending litigation.

At the last procedural hearing in March this year, magistrates at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court had granted his plea to be allowed to pay GBP 10,000 a month using borrowed funds after he told the court of his financial hardships due to his assets being frozen in India. This week’s hearing was scheduled as a review of that previous order.

In December last year, a two-judge bench in the Royal Courts of Justice in London had refused Nirav’s application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court on suicide risk grounds and also refused his application to certify a point of law, which concluded his extradition appeal options in the UK courts.

This case may be subject to further litigation, UK Home Office sources have said, which is likely to indicate a parallel confidential political asylum appeals process.

Nirav was arrested in March 2019 on an extradition warrant based on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) charges against the businessman.

There are three sets of criminal proceedings against the diamantaire in India – the CBI case of fraud on the PNB which caused losses equivalent to over GBP 700 million, the ED case relating to the alleged laundering of the proceeds of that fraud and a third set of criminal proceedings involving alleged interference with evidence and witnesses in the CBI proceedings.

Then UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had ordered Nirav’s extradition based on Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruling in April 2021. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)