Nirav Modi's extradition case to begin after May 30: MEA

India has said that the extradition case of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi will be taken up by a UK court after May 30. Nirav, who is involved in a Rs 13,000 crore scam in India's public sector Punjab National Bank, is currently in a UK jail, having been denied bail twice.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar said, "The judge has decided that case will be listed by the court on a date after 30th May 2019."

He said, "Agencies and High Commission of India, Government of India are putting a lot of effort into this to ensure that the process of extradition of Nirav Modi is completed at the earliest but we have to go through the due process". 

His bail was rejected last week since the prosecution had pleaded that he may threaten the witnesses. His hearing will again resume on April 26 now.

Nirav had fled India in January 2018 when the PNB first reported the scam. In February, India revoked his passport and later in August last year, New Delhi sent a couple of extradition requests to the UK - one from the CBI, another from the ED regarding the extradition of the absconder businessman.

Through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertaking/Foreign Letters of Credit for payments of import bills, Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi were able to dupe PNB of Rs 13,000 crore between February 2011 and May 2017. 

While Nirav Modi fled to the UK, Choksi fled to the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda and took its citizenship.