Nirav Modi further remanded to custody in UK prison until August 22

Modi, 48, has been lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his arrest in March

Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India in connection with the nearly $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was on Thursday further remanded to judicial custody until August 22, when he will appear once again via videolink from his London prison cell.

Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot presided over the routine four-week remand appearance via videolink at Westminster Magistrates' Court during which she indicated that a five-day extradition trial will take place in May 2020 after dates are mutually agreed between all sides.

"You would like it to be sooner rather than later, I presume.