Former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has claimed that India was reluctant to accept thousands of illegal Indian migrants from Britain because fugitive businessman Nirav Modi had not been extradited. Patel, who served as the UK’s Home Secretary between 2019 and 2022, made the remarks in the fourth episode of Diamond King, a four-part podcast on Nirav Modi’s rise and downfall. The series, produced by The Daily Telegraph journalists, is scheduled for release on Friday. The reporters had tracked down Nirav living openly in London in 2019.
Patel, who approved Nirav Modi’s extradition in 2021, said she was shocked that he was still in the UK seven years after fleeing India.
According to Patel, the Indian government was “hugely angry” failure to extradite Nirav Modi. She alleged that New Delhi had resisted accepting Indian nationals who had overstayed their visas or whose asylum applications had been rejected in the UK.
“If our system were judicious and doing the right thing, rather than tying itself up in process and excuses, he should not be in this country,” Patel was quoted as saying.
“I’m actually pretty appalled and horrified that he’s still here, and I have to say, I suspect that really makes the Indian government feel quite demoralised about even working with us,” she added.
“The UK has a very large number of illegal Indian migrants. It was extremely difficult to get India to agree to take back failed asylum seekers, and I believe the high-profile Nirav Modi case was one of the main reasons,” Patel said in the podcast.
Priti Patel further claimed that India refused to accept charter flights carrying illegal Indian migrants and often raised objections while verifying the identities of those the UK wanted to deport. “Nirav should be in prison in India serving his sentence,” Patel said.
Nirav Modi, who is accused of spending more than £1 million on legal battles to block his extradition, remains lodged in Pentonville Prison in London. Reports earlier this month suggested he had failed in his attempt to stop extradition through the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). However, he has still not been sent back to India.
Neither the ECHR nor the UK Home Office commented on the reports. Responding to the speculation, Nirav Modi’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald KC, told The Times of India, “We fight on whatever happens.”
Indian migrants living in the UK
The exact number of illegal Indian migrants living in the UK remains unclear. A figure of around 100,000 was widely reported in 2018, although Indian officials disputed that estimate at the time. In May 2021, India and the UK signed a Migration and Mobility Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), under which both countries agreed to facilitate the return of people found to be living illegally in the other country.
Rejecting Patel’s claims, Kuldeep Shekhawat, who heads the Overseas Friends of BJP UK and Europe, said India has never refused to take back its citizens who are in the UK illegally.
“This is not true. India is taking back illegal migrants. India has never opposed that. India does not support illegal migration anywhere in the world,” Shekhawat said.
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