Nirav Modi's bail plea rejected again

London, May 08: A court in the United Kingdom on Wednesday once again denied bail to diamond merchant Nirav Modi, having earlier twice rejected the plea. The next hearing has been scheduled for May 30.

Modi is fighting an extradition case in connection to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. He is currently lodged at Her Majesty's Prison (HMP) Wandsworth, where he can hold sessions with his legal team to deliberate on the course of his extradition proceedings.

At the last hearing in the extradition case on April 26, when Modi had appeared before Judge Arbuthnot via videolink from prison, no application had been made for bail and he was further remanded in judicial custody until May 24.

The court was also told that May 30 had been tentatively ear-marked as the first case management hearing ahead of an extradition trial, but it now remains to be seen how the case will progress after the latest bail application.

Modi was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers in central London on March 19. During subsequent hearings, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told that Modi was the "principal beneficiary" of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.

Meanwhile, the diamond merchant remains behind bars at one of England's most overcrowded prisons - Her Majesty's Prison (HMP) Wandsworth, where he can hold sessions with his legal team to deliberate on the course of his extradition proceedings. His lawyers had urged the judge to allow them more time with their client than the few hours a week permitted by the jail.