A court in the United Kingdom dismissed a bail application from Nirav Modi on Thursday. Modi has been incarcerated in London for almost six years following his unsuccessful attempt to avoid extradition related to accusations of fraud and money laundering in India. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reported that the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, rejected this latest bail request from Modi. This marks his tenth attempt at securing bail since he was detained in the UK in 2019. The CBI noted that the objection to the bail was vigorously supported by an advocate from the Crown Prosecution Service, who was effectively aided by a dedicated team from the CBI, including both investigative and legal officers who traveled to London for this matter.

Nirav Modi stands as the principal accused in a ₹13,850 crore fraud involving Punjab National Bank and was labeled a fugitive economic offender in December 2019. Alongside his uncle Mehul Choksi, he is charged with deceiving PNB by acquiring fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs), which allowed them to secure international loans without adequate collateral. He was taken into custody on an extradition warrant on March 19, 2019, with then UK home secretary Priti Patel authorizing his extradition in April 2021. Since then, Modi has pursued all possible legal avenues up to the Supreme Court and submitted multiple bail requests, all of which have been denied due to concerns about his “real and substantial” risk of fleeing. There are three ongoing criminal cases against Nirav Modi in India: one from the CBI regarding the fraud against Punjab National Bank, another from the Enforcement Directorate concerning the alleged laundering of funds from that fraud, and a third related to claims of tampering with evidence and witnesses in the CBI investigations.