Nirav Modi’s scam could be dubbed as the biggest ever scam that took place in India’s banking history. The key accused in the case is once so famous Jeweller and designer Nirav Modi, his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi, and other relatives and some Punjab National Bank employees. Nirav Modi and his relatives escaped India in early 2018, days before the news of the scam became public, and since then Indian Government is trying its best to extradite these culprits.
The biggest development in this happened yesterday when the UK court handed down the judgment in favor of the extradition of Nirav Modi to face charges of fraud and money laundering. The Judge said that he had found no evidence of adverse political influence in the case, as claimed by Nirav Modi’s legal team.
Here, it is essential to note that two of India’s senior-most Ex-Judges deposed in support of Nirav Modi and tried their best to defend him with their vague statements. However, District Judge Samuel Goozee was highly critical to these judges and dubbed the evidence as “less than objective and reliable”.
These judges are ex-supreme court Justice Katju and former High Court judge Abhay Thipsay.
Justice Goozee made a critical comment and said that “Albeit, some political commentary could be described as ill-advised, there is nothing in the volumes of media, broadcasting, or social media links that have been referred to me in the voluminous defense bundles that gives any indication that politicians are trying to influence the outcome of any trial, let alone NDM’s (Nirav Deepak Modi) trial or that the trial process itself would be susceptible to such influence,”
He further added that “I reject any submission that the GOI (government of India) have deliberately engineered a media onslaught. I attach little weight to Justice Katju’s expert opinion,”.
Justice Goozee made this critical comment with reference to Katju’s testimony via videolink last year. Justice Goozee felt it appeared tinged with resentment towards former senior judicial colleagues and described parts of it as “astonishing, inappropriate and grossly insensitive comparisons”.
“It had hallmarks of an outspoken critic with his own personal agenda. I found his evidence and behaviour in engaging the media the day before giving evidence to be questionable for someone who served the Indian judiciary at such a high level appointed to guard and protect the rule of law,” Goozee notes in his ruling.
Despite being critical of the “trial by media” and its impact on the Modi case, the Westminster Magistrates’ Court judge expressed surprise that Katju, who was a Supreme Court judge from 2006 to 2011, took the “astonishing decision” to brief journalists in relation to the evidence he was giving in the UK proceedings, “creating his own media storm and adding to the heightened media interest to date”.
Judge Goozee also slammed the former High Court judge Abhay Thipsay’s evidence, who had been deposed as an expert on how the case would play out in the Indian courts. The UK judge noted that Thipsay had aligned himself with a political party (Congress) on his retirement and received adverse commentary in the media as a result, but that he also engaged with and courted the media himself.
“Overall, these factors have the effect, in my assessment, of nullifying any weight I would have attached to his evidence,” the ruling notes.
The UK judge, who found a prima facie case of fraud and money laundering against Modi in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, further declared that there was no evidence which allowed him to find that if extradited the jeweller would be at “real risk of suffering a flagrant denial of justice” as pleaded by his lawyers.
Once these observations came out in open, a massive backlash has been started against Justice Katju and Justice Thipsay. BJP’s National General Secretary Bhupender Yadav lashed out at Justice Katju for his dubious behavior in UK court.
Justice Katju tried to justify his acts but failed miserably because people know that he was appointed by Congress Government and occupied a quasi-judicial office as Chairman of the Press Council of India.
However, Mr. Yadav didn’t spare him and asked him bluntly that why Justice Katju was acting against the Nation and supporting a fugitive.
BJP also leveled the charges against former High Court Justice Thipsay and claimed that he was working at the Congress’ behest to derail the proceedings against Nirav Modi. Justice Thipsay made a statement in the UK court on behalf of Nirav Modi. In his statement, he said the charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating, among others, invoked by India against Modi would not stand up under Indian law.
BJP Leader Priti Gandhi exposed Justice Thipsay and accused him of acting against the national interests, she also mentioned that Justice Thipsay is an active congress party member since 2018.
Here it is important to know that Justice Thipsay is known for his close relations with the Gandhi family.
BJP Leader Bhupender Yadav further lashed out at both the Judges and raised doubts on their intentions. Both the judges have been appointed by Congress in different institutions and their actions prove that they were more interested in saving Nirav Modi at any cost.
Social Media consultant Ravi Bhadoria lashed out at Justice Katju and accused him of bringing the standard of judiciary down with his biased and agenda-driven acts.
We are shocked by these acts of Ex Senior Judges. On one hand, these people keep accusing Modi Government of not doing anything to bring back the fugitives like Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Lalit Modi. Their masters (Gandhi Family) keep attacking PM Modi and even alleges that all ‘Modi’ are fraud, they even attacked Gujrati people for these scams, but when the Government tried their best to extradite these fugitives, then these same Congressi people try their best to help the same fugitives. Isn’t this a bigotry of the highest degree?
