LONDON: Former UK home secretary Priti Patel says the Indian government has refused to take back thousands of illegal Indian migrants from Britain because the UK has not extradited fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi.Patel, a Tory, held the position from 2019 to 2022. Her comments come in the fourth episode of the Diamond King podcast, a new four-part series on Nirav’s rise and fall due for release on Friday. It is made by Daily Telegraph reporters Rob Mendick and Mick Brown, who found Nirav openly living in London in 2019.Patel, who signed off on Nirav’s extradition in 2021, told the podcast she was horrified that Nirav was still in London seven years later. She said India was “hugely angry” over Britain’s failure to deport him and that the government in Delhi had “really pushed back” on taking back Indians in Britain who had overstayed.Patel said the UK was home to “a very high number” of illegal Indian immigrants. “I had a hell of a challenge getting India to sign off on receiving failed asylum-seekers and I’m convinced it’s because we had a high profile case of Nirav,” she said.She claims Delhi declined to receive charter flights of illegal immigrants and “had problems verifying” the names provided by the UK. “Nirav should be in prison in India serving his time there,” she said. Nirav, who is alleged to have spent over £1 million in legal fees opposing extradition, remains in Pentonville prison in London. There were rumours earlier this month that he had lost his bid at the ECHR to prevent extradition. But he has not gone back. The ECHR and home office refused to comment and Nirav’s barrister, Edward Fitzgerald KC, told TOI: “We fight on whatever happens.”The number of illegal Indian migrants in the UK is unknown. A figure of 100,000 was bandied around in 2018 but Indian officials disputed this at the time.Britain and India signed a migration and mobility MoU in May 2021 which assures the return to each other’s country of any illegal residents in the other country.“This is not true. India is taking back illegal migrants. India has never opposed that,” said Kuldeep Shekhawat, in charge of Overseas Friends of BJP UK and Europe. “India does not support illegal migration in any part of the world.”
