UK court rejects diamond merchant Nirav Modi’s bail plea

London, June 12 

The UK High Court on Wednesday denied bail to diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who is fighting his extradition from Britain to India in the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.

Judge Ingrid Simler at the Royal Courts of Justice said that there are substantial grounds to believe that Modi will fail to surrender.

Moreover, the judge felt that there could be interference with the witnesses and obstruction of justice.

Earlier, Modi's legal team presented arguments in an attempt to persuade the judge to overturn the Westminster Magistrates' Court ruling to deny bail during three previous attempts, for fear that the 48-year-old would fail to surrender.

Modi has already been denied bail at three previous attempts at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, as the judge ruled there was "substantial risk" that he would fail to surrender and deemed the bail security offered as insufficient.

He was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers on an extradition warrant from a Metro Bank branch in central London on March 19 and has been in prison since. — PTI