UK court rejects fresh bail application of Nirav Modi

The UK High Court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of Nirav Modi, one of the prime accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. He has been accused of siphoning off Rs 6498.20 crore of the total scam amount.

Nirav is charged for orchestrating the scandal with his uncle Mehul Choksi. The 54-year-old's legal counsel argued for bail on the grounds of "passage of time" and the adverse impact on his health in his London prison.

However, Justice Michael Fordham ruled at the Royal Courts of Justice that Nirav remained a flight risk and continued to have funds at his disposal to influence witnesses in his case.


"Fresh bail petition filed by Nirav Deepak Modi was rejected Thursday by the High Court of Justice, King's Bench Division, London. The bail arguments were strongly opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advocate, who was ably assisted by a strong CBI team consisting of investigating and law officers who travelled to London for this purpose," the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in a statement in New Delhi.

"This is his 10th bail petition since his detention in UK which was successfully defended by CBI through Crown Prosecution Service, London," said Central Bureau of Investigation.

Separately, there are three sets of criminal proceedings against Nirav Modi in India - the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case of fraud on the Punjab National Bank (PNB), 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.

He was arrested on an extradition warrant on March 19, 2019, and then UK home secretary Priti Patel ordered his extradition in April 2021.

Nirav has since exhausted his legal appeals in the case up to the Supreme Court and made several bail applications, the most recent being in May last year, which have all been turned down over his "real and substantial" flight risk.