UK court further remands Nirav Modi till May 24
London: A UK court on Friday further remanded till May 24 fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi who is undergoing extradition proceedings in Britain in the USD 1-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.
The 48-year-old, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his arrest last month, appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot via videolink from the jail.
The very brief hearing ended with judge further remanding Modi till May 24. She scheduled a full hearing on May 30.Modi's bail was rejected by Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot on March 29 on the grounds that there was a "substantial risk he would fail to surrender".
He is believed to have been living in the UK on an Investor Visa, applied for in 2015 at a time when the so-called golden visa route was relatively easier for super-rich individuals to acquire residency rights in the UK based on a minimum of 2-million pound investment.
He was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers on March 19. During his first court appearance a day later, it emerged that the diamantaire accused of defrauding PNB via fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) had been in possession of multiple passports, since revoked by the Indian authorities.
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West Asia crisis: Rajasthan man goes missing near Oman after Iranian missile hits oil tanker
Jaipur (PTI): A man from Nagaur district in Rajasthan has gone missing after a missile struck an oil tanker he was aboard near Oman amid the ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, according to his family members.
The family said they received information that an Iranian missile hit the vessel on the morning of March 1 while it was stationed at Khasab Port, causing significant damage to the ship.
Dalip Singh, the missing crew member, is a resident of Khinwatana village in Nagaur and began his duty on January 22.
He was serving as a crew member on the tanker operated by Skylight Company. At the time of the attack, Dalip was in the forward section of the ship with another crew member, Ashish Kumar, who hailed from Bihar. While Kumar's body has been recovered, Dalip remains untraceable, his brother Devendra Singh said.
Devendra further mentioned that the company informed them that most of the crew members were evacuated safely during the attack. However, Ashish and two others, including Dalip, have gone missing.
He noted that Dalip last spoke to the family on February 28.
Additionally, another man from Nagaur district, Sunil Kumar, was also working on the same vessel. Dalip is said to have taken over duty in the shift after Sunil completed his assignment, Devendra added.
