Nirav Modi

The hearing in London on Thursday was scheduled as a case management hearing to set the timetable for evidence to be presented to compete Modi's extradition trial.

Banks have little hope of getting their money back from these businessmen who, after borrowing thousands of crores from these banks and defrauding them, fled the country

Punjab National Bank received the first tranche of the payment a few days ago

The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, appeared via videolink before Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London for a regular 28-day "call-over" hearing until the second leg of his extradition trial begins in September.

The businessman and his uncle Mehul Choksi among others are being probed by the ED on money laundering charges in connection with an over $2 billion alleged bank fraud at a PNB branch in Mumbai.

The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, appeared via videolink for the remand hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

Both the businessmen are being probed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an over $2 billion alleged bank fraud at a PNB branch in Mumbai.

Special Judge V C Barde permitted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to confiscate those assets owned by Nirav Modi that are not mortgaged or hypothecated to the PNB.

Nehal Modi's name figured as the accused number 27 in the supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI, which charged him for destroying evidence in Dubai to cover the tracks of the alleged crime, the officials said.

The first part of the case focused on establishing a prima facie case against Modi but the schedule had to be re-timetabled as the government of India submitted a further set of documents as “corroboratory evidence” on Wednesday.

The ruling party cited the statement of a former high court judge, who is also a Congress member, in the arrested diamond merchant's defence to attack the opposition party.

A group of six Indian men can be heard in the video played at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London during the trial this week, with each of them making allegations

Threats of being implicated for theft and even being killed are among the allegations caught on camera in a video recorded by so-called “dummy directors” associated with companies linked to Nirav Modi

Westminster Magistrates' Court District Judge Samuel Goozee expressed concern at the late submission of the documents, said to include largely bank statements relating to the diamond merchant's companies, but allowed the application.

The hearing got off to a delayed start as officials sorted out technical difficulties of connecting the court room to the prison.

The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, is expected to be produced physically at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

As a senior journalist, author Pavan C. Lall is doubtlessly good at writing in a hurry while also keeping up standards of excellence in writing, and it shows.

His remarks came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that wilful defaulters were beneficiaries of 'phone banking' under the UPA regime and the Modi government is chasing them to recover the dues.

Two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or “criminal intimidation to cause death” were added on by the CBI and certified earlier this year.

Modi's legal team and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), representing the Indian government in the extradition proceedings, held a “lawyers-only” case management hearing in the case earlier on Tuesday, ahead of a five-day trial scheduled between May 11 and 15.