london nirav modi fighting extradition to india is unlikely to get a fair trial there due to the politicisation of his case and he faces a high risk of suicide due to the lack of adequate medical facilities in indian prisons his legal team told a uk court on tuesdaythe 49yearold fugitive diamond merchant is fighting extradition charges related to the estimated 2billion punjab national bank pnb fraud and money laundering case brought by the indian government at westminster magistrates court in londonread alsonirav modi accused of kidnapping staff in egypt destroying hiding evidencefugitive diamond jeweller nirav modi allegedly forced 12 of his staff to move to egypt took their mobile phones laptops and passports off them and kept them there against their will and forced them to sign false statements bribed and even threatened to kill one of them at the exact time hisnirav modi fails to get press blackout on justice thipsays evidence loses battle on first day of extradition hearinga london judge refused an application by nirav modis barrister to have a press blackout on evidence by former bombay hc judge abhay thipsay acting as witness on the billionaire jewellers behalf this week the trial of modi began earlier today modis lawyer had requested the judge to bar memberson the second day of niravs fiveday extradition hearing at the court justice samuel goozee was taken through official indian prisons data including statistics on coronavirus cases at arthur road jail in mumbai where modi is to be held if he is extraditedniravs barrister clare montgomery also laid out her plans to depose further expert witnesses during the course of week including a former supreme court judge referred to only by his last name of katjuthere has been a significant decline in the integrity of the justice system in india and the nirav modi case has been made a political issue with no presumption made of innocence montgomery told the courtshe claimed that because the jeweller had been made into a hate figure in india there was an overwhelming political necessity to condemn him and see him convictedshe added that other defence witnesses also highlight a decline in the standards of behaviour of investigating agencies the central bureau of investigation cbi and enforcement directorate edthe court was told about a marked decline in niravs mental health at wandsworth prison in southwest london where stricter coronavirus curbs have meant a lack of access to inhouse counselling facilities and very limited contact with family with only 25 minutes allowed outside his cell in julyhe has increasingly suffered from severe depression and the latest assessment shows he is on the threshold of being subject to hospitalisation unless given proper treatment and his fitness to plead may be in doubt here or in the requesting state india given a high risk of suicide montgomery said adding that the availability of psychiatric help in indian prisons was utterly inadequatethe laconic assurance of the government of india and the prison video to say