In Bank of India vs. Forestar Diamond FZE & Ors. (2026), Justice C. Hari Shankar passed an order dated January 12, 2026 upon hearing a matter which was listed before it consequent to a letter of request received by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs from the Senior Master of the King's Bench Division, UK, in connection with a litigation between Bank of India and (1) Firestar Diamond FZE, (2) Firestar International Private Limited and (3) Mr. Nirav Deepak Modi.
The Bank of India (BoI) on filed a lawsuit in May, 2018 against the billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi in a Hong Kong court, to recover money he received on the basis of illegally-secured letters of undertaking (LoUs) .
BoI's writ was filed against Modi and four of his companies, including Firestar Diamonds and Firestar Diamonds International.
Notably, on May 15, 2025, Modi's 10th bail plea was dismissed after considering that the diamond trader would 'abscond' if released, the Justice Michael Fordham at the Royal Courts of Justice, London had said UK courts have "twice concluded that there is an evidenced prima facie case against the applicant." It was his 10th bail petition since his detention in the United Kingdom in 2019.
Modi is also the prime accused in the over Rs 13,800 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank, was declared a fugitive economic offender by India in December 2019.
The UK High Court said that Modi was wanted for trial in India for matters of 'very great seriousness and substance' relating to allegations of economic crime, in which he is said to have been the principal perpetrator.
The High Court noted that the allegation is that, as the lead perpetrator, Nirav Modi (acting in conjunction with others) fraudulently induced the PNB to issue documents which allowed money to be withdrawn from foreign banks.
The central points put forward on the applicant's behalf in the earlier extradition proceedings were, that there was a good and lawful explanation for the transfer of the monies to the relevant entities who received those monies; rather than any denial that the monies were in fact transferred.
The amounts alleged to have been transferred, induced by the fraud, come to an aggregate amount of 1,015.35 million US dollars.
The Courts, in the context of the Applicant's extradition, have on two occasions assessed the underlying evidence being relied on against the bail applicant.
The court also considered the destruction of a mobile phone in 2018 and interference with witnesses. It noted that he is said to have been destroyed was evidence on a computer server in Dubai in February 2018. All of that would have taken place at the time when the applicant was here in the UK.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also issued a press release. It reads:"Fresh Bail Petition filed by Nirav Deepak Modi was rejected by the High Court of Justice, King's Bench Division, London. The bail arguments were strongly opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service advocate who was ably assisted by a strong CBI team consisting of investigating and law officers who travelled to London for this purpose." It added: "Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could successfully defend the arguments which resulted in rejection of the bail. Nirav Deepak Modi is in UK prison since 19th March 2019. It may be recalled that Neerav Modi is a fugitive economic offender who is wanted for Trial in India in a Bank fraud case of CBI for defrauding Punjab National Bank for Rs. 6498.20 crore."
Notably, UK authorities arrested Modi in March 2019, and the UK High Court had already approved his extradition to India.
Government of India had requested authorities in Hong Kong to arrest Modi. In April 5,2018, General (Retd) V.K.Singh, the union minister of state for external affairs had informed the Rajya Sabha that "The Ministry suspended the passports of Shri Nirav Deepak Modi and Shri Mehul Chinubhai Choksi in accordance with Section 10A of the Passports Act, 1967, on 16 February, 2018....Show Cause Notices were served on Shri Nirav Deepak Modi and Shri Mehul Chinubhai Choksi by the Passport Issuing Authority (PIA) under the Ministry on 16 February, 2018 giving them a time period of one week to respond. Since they failed to respond within the stipulated time period, their passports were revoked by the PIA under the Ministry on 23 February, 2018....The Ministry has sought the provisional arrest of Shri Nirav Deepak Modi by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China, for which a request has been submitted to them on 23 March, 2018." He was replying to a question from Harivansh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar.
In response to media queries on March 20, 2019 regarding the arrest of Nirav Modi, the Official Spokesperson said:"We welcome the fact that Nirav Modi has been arrested by the United Kingdom authorities pursuant to the arrest warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrate Court. Government of India continues to actively follow up this matter with the authorities concerned in the UK, with a view to have Nirav Modi extradited to India at the earliest."
The Court from UK has approached Delhi High Court regarding examination of a witness residing in Delhi. While issuing notice, the Court asked Chetan Sharma, the Additional Solicitor General to assist the Court in tackling such cases when no precedents are available.
The letter received by the Indian Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs from the Senior Master of the King's Bench Division, UK, was reproduced in the Court's order.
The letter stated that the evidence of a witness who was located within the territorial jurisdiction of Delhi High Court was required to be recorded. It sought the assistance of the Court regarding the future course of action to be taken in this matter, as there does not appear to be any earlier precedent in which the Court has acted on the basis of a communication from the foreign Court, without a party to the lis approaching the Court.
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