india

Updated: Sep 19, 2019 17:13 IST

Diamantaire Nirav Modi was on Thursday remanded to London’s Wandsworth prison for another 28 days until October 17 by the Westminster Magistrates Court, which will hold a trial for his extradition to India next May.

Nirav Modi, 48, who is wanted in India in connection with major financial offences related to a Mumbai branch of the Punjab National Bank, appeared through a video-link from the west London jail. Under UK law, the jail remand needs to be renewed every 28 days.

Magistrate David Robinson said the extradition trial would likely be held over five days from May 11 to 16 after consultation with lawyers from both sides.

The Indian government has informed the court through the Crown Prosecution Service that if extradited, Nirav Modi will be lodged in Barrack 12 of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.

More remand and case management hearings are likely to be held before the extradition trial in May.

Nirav Modi has been denied bail three times in the magistrates’ court. His appeal against the rejection was also rejected in the high court in June, when Judge Ingrid Simler ruled that he posed a ‘flight risk’ and could possibly interfere with witnesses and evidence.

Claire Montgomery, Modi’s lawyer, who offered 2 million pounds as bail security and to follow stringent conditions, had described his stay in the overcrowded jail as “extreme” and “personally difficult”. The experience has marked him (Nirav Modi) deeply, said the lawyer.