Nirav Modi to appear via videolink at UK court

Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly  2 billion US Dollar Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was further remanded in custody at a hearing  in a London Court  and asked to appear via videolink on 2nd January next year.

Modi appeared for his regular 28-day "call-over" appearance from London's Wandsworth prison at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where Judge Gareth Branston reconfirmed that his extradition trial will begin on May 11 next year and will last five days.

The



judge also decided that Modi will appear via videolink on 2nd January, 2020. Meanwhile, he must appear before the court every 28 days.

The 48-year-old had moved yet another bail application last month citing mental health issues from being behind bars at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March.

But the bail plea was turned down by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot over continued fears of witness intimidation and failure to surrender before the court for his extradition trial in May 2020.