London: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India in connection with the nearly USD 2 billion PNB fraud and money laundering case, was on Thursday further remanded to judicial custody until October 17 by a UK court which said it was working towards his extradition trial hearing in May next year.
The 48-year-old appeared via videolink before Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London from his prison for a routine “call-over” hearing. Judge David Robinson told Modi, who is fighting extradition to India, that there was nothing “substantial” to deal with and that the court was working towards a five-day extradition trial hearing for May 11-15, 2020.
A team of officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were present in court for the brief hearing, required under UK law every 28 days pending an extradition trial. There is also likely to be a case management hearing in the case ahead of the trial in February next year.
Modi has been lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-west London, one of England’s most overcrowded jails, since his arrest in March on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges brought by the Indian government, being represented by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service in court. (PTI)
