TOI Correspondent from London: Former SC judge Justice (retired) Deepak Verma gave evidence in favour of wanted jeweller Nirav Modi at the high court on Tuesday when Nirav sought to “reopen” his extradition appeal.Despite a sovereign assurance from the Indian govt that Nirav will not be interrogated by the CBI, ED, or any other investigating agency if extradited to India, both Verma and Nirav’s former counsel in India, Ashul Agarwal, disputed this, saying Nirav was highly likely to be interrogated by these agencies as “these are independent agencies not bound by direction from central govt”.Nirav, who lost his appeal against extradition in Nov 2022, filed an application to reopen his appeal based on the judgment handed down to defence middleman Sanjay Bhandari in Feb 2025, which prevented Bhandari’s extradition to India on grounds that he would be at risk of torture when interrogated by the investigating agencies in India. Nirav claimed he would face the same risk of torture and that this was compelling new evidence.Verma and Agarwal said Nirav was at risk of being interrogated by the DRI, the income-tax authorities, the SFIO, as well as CBI and ED, once in India.“India claims its sovereign assurance is binding on all agencies, but Agarwal and Verma deny that,” Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Nirav, told the court.He also claimed that any assurances from the CBI and ED were not reliable because of their “history and track record, and they had repeatedly been found to be practitioners of torture by every international body that has looked at this issue”.In 2018 the customs department registered a case in Surat against Nirav, accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of Rs 13,000 crore, for evasion of customs duty.Graeme Hall, also representing Nirav, said: “Warrants from the Gujarat court remain in force. Nirav has to be arrested under those warrants and produced before this court, and that can’t be overridden by assurances. Verma and Agarwal both state that once in Gujarat, it is highly likely Nirav will be interrogated by the DRI and so there is a real risk of ill treatment.”Verma said in court that the sovereign assurances “cannot override judicial warrants or the discretion of Indian courts”.Helen Malcolm KC, representing India, reaffirmed there was no prospect of Nirav being interrogated by any investigative agency in India. She said Agarwal is a “very inexperienced” lawyer and Verma “pretends to be expert on Indian extradition but there is no evidence he has ever dealt with extradition”.Judgment was reserved.

BENGALURU: A bizarre incident kept police on their toes Tuesday evening after a group of people brought an elderly man stuffed inside a gunny bag to a courier office and sought to deliver the “package” to Mangaluru. The group of six, which included two women and the elderly man, went to the courier office located in Vinayaka Circle near Vyalikaval, close to Sadashivnagar in Central Business District, saying they wanted to courier something packed in the gunny bag. When asked by the courier agency staffers what was inside the huge gunny bag and where they intended to courier it, one of them opened it and out popped an elderly man!

Shocked, courier agency staff refused their request and asked the “customers” what was going on. When they told them a human could not be couriered, the group insisted: “But we want to courier him to another district.”Instead of apologising for their prank, the group questioned the agency staffers why they were running the business if they could not courier the bag with a man in it. “They went to the extent of demanding money from them, saying they had wasted their time and energy. The group gave water to the man in the gunny bag and he drank it. They walked away carrying the bag, saying they would find another courier agency which will, for sure, agree to courier the man in the bag,” a police officer told TOI.

Some of the passers-by and neighbouring shop owners were seen peeping out and trying to understand what was happening. As police reached the spot and interacted with them, one of them revealed that some of those in the group were recording reels on mobile phones.‘Bid to highlight soaring bus ticket rates’Police checked the CCTV footage from the courier agency and nearby shops and succeeded in tracing the group of people, who all turned out to be members of the same family.A young woman confessed that that family had played the prank and recorded a reel in a bid to highlight soaring bus ticket prices for travel during Ugadi and Ramzan festivities. She told police that she was upset as her aged father could not travel to Mangaluru because of the high prices.Police said no charges had been filed against the family. “If the owner or manager of the courier agency files a complaint, then we can act sternly for the practical joke they played,” police said.

In a dramatic turn, the Bangladesh government has decided to launch a fresh probe into whether the country’s withdrawal from the just-concluded ICC Twenty20 World Cup amounted to a failure of sports diplomacy, a day after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requested the sports ministry to shut down an earlier investigation panel.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!State minister for youth and sports Aminul Haque confirmed that a new inquiry committee will be constituted, focusing specifically on whether Bangladesh’s absence from the global showpiece reflected deeper diplomatic shortcomings. Bangladesh had pulled out citing security concerns, with Scotland stepping in as their replacement.

As per a Cricbuzz report, the move is seen as a significant setback for BCB’s top brass, particularly board president Aminul Islam, who played a central role in the decision to skip the tournament.“I have already spoken about these issues — why we could not participate in World Cup cricket and where exactly our shortcomings in sports diplomacy lay. These are matters we must thoroughly examine,” Aminul Haque said, underlining the seriousness of the government’s stance.

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Focus on sports diplomacy and accountabilityHe added that the committee is likely to be formed after Eid and will aim to identify the root causes behind the controversial withdrawal. “Perhaps after Eid, I will form an inquiry committee… and based on its findings, we will take the necessary steps,” he stated.Emphasising the larger implications, Aminul Haque said, “In my view, we need to further strengthen our sports diplomacy because sports is a platform where, beyond all divisions and political ideologies, we can unite as a nation.”The minister also linked the broader probe to governance concerns within the BCB, revealing that multiple complaints had been received regarding irregularities in the board’s recent elections. “During the previous government’s tenure, there was direct interference in the cricket board elections… After we assumed responsibility, various complaints came in from stakeholders,” he said.Election irregularities also under scannerAccording to him, the inquiry committee has been directed through the National Sports Council to consult all stakeholders, including election officials, board members, the CEO, and even district administrators. “These are allegations and questionable issues… In my opinion, these matters require a completely impartial investigation,” he added.Aminul Haque confirmed that the government will also engage with the International Cricket Council before taking any final decision. “Once the report is submitted, we will review it carefully and then, after speaking with the ICC, take the next course of action,” he said.