India refused to take back thousands of illegal Indian migrants from Britain because of the delay in extraditing fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi, former UK home secretary Priti Patel has claimed.
Patel, who served as the UK home secretary from 2019 to 2022, said the Indian government was ‘hugely angry’ over Britain’s failure to send Nirav Modi back to India despite her approving his extradition order in 2021.
She also said that India had ‘pushed back’ and refused to accept charter flights carrying Indian nationals deported from the UK.
Her comments came in the fourth episode of the podcast series The Diamond King, which tracks Nirav Modi’s rise and fall. The four-part series, made by The Daily Telegraph reporters Rob Mendick and Mick Brown, is set to release on Friday.
Around one lakh illegal migrants were living in the UK in 2018, but Indian officials disputed that estimate.
Nirav Modi, wanted in India in connection with the ₹13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, was found living openly in London in 2019. Patel had approved his extradition request in 2021 but said she was shocked that he remained in the UK years later.
“I was horrified that he was still in London seven years later,” Patel said on the podcast.
Patel also criticised the UK legal process, saying that if the system had moved faster, Modi “should not be in this country”.
“Nirav Modi should be in prison…in India and serving his time there, having gone through a legal process, which is exactly what UK extradition laws and treaties are about,” she told the outlet.
She claimed that getting India to accept failed asylum-seekers and illegal migrants was a major challenge during her time in office. “I had a hell of a challenge getting India to sign off on receiving failed asylum-seekers and I’m convinced it’s because we had a high-profile case of Nirav,” she said.
Some Indian representatives have rejected Patel’s claims. Kuldeep Shekhawat, who heads the Overseas Friends of BJP UK and Europe, said India has always cooperated in taking back illegal migrants and does not support illegal immigration anywhere in the world.
Nirav Modi is currently in London’s Pentonville prison. He has reportedly spent more than £1 million on legal efforts to stop his extradition to India.
There were reports earlier this month that Nirav Modi had lost his appeal at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). However, he has not yet returned to India. Modi’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald KC said, “We fight on whatever happens”.
Nirav Modi was arrested in London in March 2019 after The Daily Telegraph reporters tracked him down while living in the city. His extradition has been delayed due to ongoing legal proceedings and appeals in the UK.