ECHR grants anonymity to Nirav Modi ahead of crucial extradition hearing

Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi has been granted anonymity by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in France's Strasbourg, taking away his case from public scrutiny, officials said.

The court will treat his case as confidential, and proceedings in the matter will be conducted away from the public glare, they said.

"In cases where an applicant has been granted anonymity and the case file is confidential, the court cannot provide any information about that case," the ECHR Press office told PTI.

In around a fortnight, the ECHR is likely to conduct a hearing on Nirav Modi's plea. The court will also hear the Central Bureau of Investigation, following which it might give a verdict, sources said.

If Modi's plea is rejected, it will eliminate the final legal hurdle for his extradition to India from the UK, where he is lodged in a London prison.

In March, the UK's High Court of Justice rejected Modi's petition to reopen his case against extradition, relying on the "quality of assurances" given by the Indian government, which it said were "comprehensive" enough to neutralise the risk of torture that might have barred his transfer to India.

The rejection had closed all legal avenues available to Nirav Modi in the UK, following which he approached the ECHR. The UK is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The High Court of Justice bench comprising Lord Justice Stuart-Smith and Justice Jay "refused" Modi's plea to reopen his extradition appeal under the Criminal Procedure Rules, noting that diplomatic undertakings given by India between September 2025 and February 2026 "provided a sheaf of assurances that are comprehensive, detailed and reliable."

Modi's application to reopen the appeal rested on a February 2025 judgment in the extradition matter of defence consultant Sanjay Bhandari, in which the court had termed the use of torture by Indian agencies to extract confessions as "commonplace and endemic."

The 55-year-old jeweller, who shot to prominence for his Bollywood clientele, international boutique stores, and Cannes appearances, has been lodged at Wandsworth prison since his arrest in the UK on March 19, 2019.

Declared a fugitive in India, Modi is accused of orchestrating Rs 13,000 crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank in collusion with his uncle Mehul Choksi, who is lodged in a Belgian prison.

According to the CBI, Modi alone had siphoned off Rs 6,498.20 crore of the total misappropriated amount.