Nirav Modi in UK: India makes formal request for extradition

New Delhi, Aug 3: Nirav Modi, the main accused in the PNB scam became the 29th fugitive India has asked to be extradited from the United Kingdom. India has sent to its High Commission in London a formal request for the government of UK to extradite Nirav Modi.

The request will now be forwarded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK Government.

Minister of State for External Affairs, V K Singh informed the Rajya Sabha that the request for extradition had been sent to the High Commission of India in London. The request has been sent by a special diplomatic bag to the High Commission of India, London for onward transmission to the UK authorities, Singh said. He further added that two Interpol Red Corner Notices had been issued against Modi.

The track record of extraditions from the UK have not been exactly good for India. Since 2002, India has made 29 such requests of which 9 have been rejected. Further the UK court also declined to issue arrest warrants in three cases. The remaining 15 cases, which includes that of Vijay Mallya's is pending. Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel is the only fugitive whom the UK extradited to India in the past 16 years.

Nirav Modi left India on January 1 2018, while another co-accused and his uncle Mehul Choksi suspected to be in Antigua fled the country on January 4. Choksi, it may be recalled obtained a citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in November 2017, much before the scam broke out. The passports of both Modi and Choksi had been revoked by the MEA on February 16 2018.