New Delhi: The UK Government cleared the NRI Nirav Modi’s extradition to India, who is fugitive offender in cheating the banks and involved in money laundering cases ₹ 14,000 crore. The UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the extradition order on Thursday.

Earlier, the UK Westminster court had allowed the extradition plea and sent the case to the Home Secy. While clearing his extradition to India, a UK judge in February dismissed arguments like his mental health worsening during the pandemic and poor Indian prison conditions.

Nirav Modi is a step closer to extradition but still has the option of legally challenging it within 28 days before the UK High Court. The process may take months or even years, as seen in the case of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who went to court against his extradition order signed back in February 2019. The UK Westminster Court Judge said that “I do not accept that Nirav Modi was involved in legitimate business. I find no genuine transactions and believe there is a process of dishonesty”.

“Many of these are a matter for trial in India. I am satisfied again that there is evidence he could be convicted. Prima facie there is a case of money laundering”. Nirav Modi, once the celebrity jeweler to movie stars in India and abroad, was arrested in 2019 from a metro station in London on an extradition warrant.

He was repeatedly denied bail as he was seen as a flight risk. He is facing two sets of criminal proceedings; the CBI case relating to illegal letters of undertaking or loan agreements used to clear crores in loans to the jeweller, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. He also faces two additional charges of evidence tampering and intimidating witnesses, which were added to the CBI case.