London: A UK court on Thursday extended till June 27 the remand of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who is fighting his extradition to India in the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.

The 48-year-old has been lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his third attempt at seeking bail was rejected by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at the last hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court earlier this month.

He was produced before Judge Arbuthnot for the first case management hearing in the case. The judge remanded him till June 27.

The judge also asked the Indian government to provide within 14 days the information on which prison he will be held at.

Modi was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers on an extradition warrant from a Metro Bank branch in central London as he attempted to open a new bank account on March 19 and has been in prison since.

During subsequent hearings, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told that Modi was the "principal beneficiary" of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.

Arbuthnot, the judge who had ordered the Mallya extradition in December 2018, has been very firm with the CPS, representing the Indian government, about proper indexing of all documents to be submitted to the court in relation to the case.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government on Friday withdrew its order to disburse Rs 10 crore for strengthening the Maharashtra state Waqf Board, state chief secretary Sujata Saunik said.

The development comes a day after a government resolution (GR) was issued, in which the state administration ordered disbursal of Rs 10 crore funds for strengthening the state Waqf Board.

When asked whether the GR was withdrawn, Saunik confirmed the development.

As per the November 28 GR, Rs 20 crore were earmarked for 2024-25 for strengthening of the Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs (MSBW). Of that, Rs 2 crore were disbursed to the MSBW headquartered in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.