Nirav Modi To Be Remanded In Custody Until August 27

Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi who has been fighting extradition to India was further remanded in custody until August 27 on Thursday.

The announcement came at a regular remand hearing before a UK court on charges over USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case on Modi.

News agency PTI reported, the 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, appeared via videolink before District Judge Vanessa Baraitser at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London for a regular 28-day "call-over" hearing.

The next hearing in the case will be a case management hearing ahead of a trial set for five days from September 7. In May, the first part of Modi's extradition trial was held with the second part scheduled between September 7 and 11, the reports said.

Besides, completing the arguments on establishing a prima facie case against Modi, the trial next month will deal with a second extradition request, made by the Indian authorities and certified by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel earlier this year. The second request brings two additional charges against Modi – of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or "criminal intimidation to cause death", the report added.