Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s extradition to India may be on hold because of a second asylum claim by him, HT learns.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
