A London court has allowed a plea by fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India on fraud and money laundering charges, to adjourn a trial in an unrelated Bank of India unpaid loan case until March over U.K. prison delays.
The 54-year-old accused, fighting extradition to India in the estimated $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam, was shifted from Thameside prison in South London to HMP Pentonville, North London, in October to facilitate an appearance at the High Court in London.
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At an online review hearing for the $8-million Bank of India case on Friday (December 20, 2025), Judge Simon Tinkler partially granted Mr. Nirav’s application to adjourn the eight-day January trial by a few weeks until March 23 next year, following delays by U.K. prison authorities in providing access to important legal paperwork.
“There must, in my judgment, be some doubt as to whether those papers will ever make their way to Nirav Modi if they indeed currently still exist,” Justice Tinkler noted.
