The High Court in London ordered the extradition of diamond dealer Nirav Modi to India on Wednesday. The Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scandal case includes charges of fraud and money laundering totaling an estimated $2 billion. 

The judgement was given by Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay, who presided over the appeal hearing earlier this year.

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The 51-year-old businessman was given permission to file an appeal against District Judge Sam Goozee’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court decision in favour of extradition in February while he was still incarcerated at Wandsworth Prison in south-east London.

To hear arguments about whether it would be unfair or oppressive to extradite Modi given his mental state, the High Court was granted leave to appeal on two grounds under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), as well as Section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003, which also dealt with mental illness.

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case concerns a widespread fraud against PNB that involved obtaining letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements fraudulently, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case concerns the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. Modi is the subject of both sets of criminal proceedings.

In addition, two more accusations that were added to the CBI case against him include “causing the disappearance of evidence” and “intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death.”

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Nirav Modi was raised in Antwerp, Belgium, but was born in Palanpur, Gujarat. His ancestors have worked in the diamond industry for several generations. He and his father, Deepak Modi, relocated to Mumbai when he was 19 years old to work at his uncle, Mehul Choksi, who is the CEO of the Gitanjali Group, an Indian retailer of jewellery with 4,000 stores.