Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi was denied bail by a UK court for the third time in his extradition case to India to face charges in the Punjab National Bank fraud & money laundering case amounting to up to USD 2 billion and will continue to be lodged in a London jail described by his lawyers as 'unliveable'. According to the media reports, Nirav has been lodged in Wandsworth prison, considered one of Britain’s most notorious, since he was arrested by Scotland Yard officers from a central London bank branch on March 19. In close to two months, Nirav – through his lawyers – has moved bail application four times now but these have been shot down each time.
His bail, which had already been rejected twice before by Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, came up for a third attempt before Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, who ruled that while the doubling of security offered by Modi's lawyers did amount to a change in circumstances in order for her to hear the "renewed" bail plea, she still had similar concerns as before that he would fail to surrender before the court.
