Niirav Modi is topic to 2 units of felony proceedings
London:
Nirav Modi’s psychological well being and the jail circumstances in India have been as soon as once more in focus in the course of the fugitive diamond product owner’s extradition listening to associated to the Punjab Nationwide Financial institution (PNB) rip-off case at a courtroom within the UK on Wednesday.
The third day of the five-day listening to at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom, presided over by Justice Samuel Goozee, was dedicated to the defence laying out additional arguments towards a prima facie case of fraud and money-laundering towards Mr Modi, who noticed the courtroom proceedings through videoconference from Wandsworth Jail in London.
The 49-year-old jeweller appeared notably inanimate via most a part of the day, with the decide at one level pausing the listening to to test if the video hyperlink had frozen and requested Mr Modi to maintain transferring on occasion so the courtroom may be certain he’s nonetheless linked to the proceedings.
Mr Modi’s defence crew, led by barrister Clare Montgomery, raised additional points across the circumstances at Barrack 12 at Arthur Street Jail in Mumbai, the place he’s to be lodged on being extradited, claiming it’s coated in its entirety in a blue metallic cowl because it housed a terrorist in 2007. This makes the barrack “extremely sizzling”, with different issues akin to damp, mud, bugs and rodents, she quoted testimony as saying.
Apart from fears associated to a COVID-19 outbreak earlier within the yr, references have been additionally made to a medical skilled’s “addendum report” which highlighted “way more critical” issues round Mr Modi’s psychological well being.
UK-based prisons skilled Dr Alan Mitchell, who has beforehand given witness statements within the extradition case of former Kingfisher Airways boss Vijay Mallya, and the medical skilled are amongst a set of defence witnesses scheduled to offer reside proof in courtroom over these points later this week.
They are going to be cross-examined by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) barrister Helen Malcolm, who’s arguing on behalf of the Indian authorities.
Throughout Wednesday’s listening to, Mr Modi’s defence crew additionally claimed their consumer had been the topic of a “trial by media” and wouldn’t obtain a good trial in India. After the decide had turned down a defence request earlier this week to permit retired Indian excessive courtroom decide Abhay Thipsay to offer his video hyperlink skilled assertion privately, his written assertion was briefly offered in courtroom to spotlight assertions towards the admissibility of sure proof offered by the Indian authorities.
Mr Thipsay’s testimony questions whether or not the statements offered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) meet the “statutory necessities” beneath Indian legislation and raises doubts over whether or not sure alleged actions, such because the destruction of cellphones, “quantity to disappearance of proof”.
Mr Modi is topic to 2 units of felony proceedings, the primary introduced by the CBI referring to a large-scale fraud stated to have been dedicated upon PNB and the ED case, referring to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. An additional extradition request was made in February this yr of two further offences of the disappearance of proof and intimidating a witness.
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