A London court has ruled against fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi in a personal loan guarantee dispute, ordering him to pay Bank of India approximately $11.5 million — roughly Rs 108 crore — in principal and accumulated interest. The judgment, delivered by Justice Simon Tinkler of the London Circuit Commercial Court, settles a case that Bank of India had been fighting since 2018.

The dispute centres on a loan extended to Firestar Diamond FZE, a Dubai-based company linked to Modi. He had personally guaranteed the loan, but later attempted to have that guarantee declared legally void. Justice Tinkler rejected that argument, ruling that under Indian law, Modi's personal guarantee is neither null nor unenforceable. A demand notice sent to him in October 2025 was found to be entirely valid.

The principal amount owed stands at $4.1 million — around Rs 34.3 crore. With interest accrued up to March 2026, the total liability has climbed to $11.5 million, and the figure will continue to grow.

Milan Kapadia of Fladgate LLP, the law firm representing Bank of India, was careful to draw a distinction: this case is a commercial banking recovery matter and has no connection to the much larger Punjab National Bank fraud involving approximately $2 billion, for which Modi faces criminal charges in India. Bank of India has pursued this separate civil recovery through UK courts for over seven years.

Modi has been in a London prison for seven years, fighting extradition to India on three fronts — a CBI case related to the PNB scam, an Enforcement Directorate money laundering case, and a third CBI charge of tampering with witnesses and evidence. Then-UK Home Secretary Priti Patel had approved his extradition in April 2021, but successive bail applications and appeals have kept him in legal limbo since.

In March this year, Modi lost what was widely seen as his last viable attempt to block extradition in UK courts, after his claim of facing torture risk in Indian custody was rejected. He has since reportedly taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights in France, where proceedings are currently ongoing.

The London court's latest ruling adds another layer to an already complicated legal picture. Even as Modi battles extradition, civil creditors are now extracting recoveries through British courts — a sign that multiple tracks of accountability are advancing simultaneously, independent of the criminal proceedings in India.