# UK court clears sale of Nirav Modi’s London flat for £3.75 mn 2026-09-30T15:51:23+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets A UK court has approved the sale of a luxury London flat linked to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who has been in jail in London since 2019 while fighting extradition to India in the USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank fraud case. At a hearing on Tuesday (29 September 2026), Master James Brightwell of the Chancery Division of the High Court gave the court's blessing for the sale of 103 Marathon House in central London at a minimum price of £3.75 million. The case was brought by Trident Trust Company (Singapore) Pte Limited. India's Enforcement Directorate had earlier argued that the sale proceeds should be placed in a secure account after all pressing liabilities of the trust are cleared. Modi, who attended the hearing via videolink from HMP Wandsworth, opposed the sale, claiming he was the 'true settler' of the trust. Both sources report that after exhausting other legal options, Modi is believed to have submitted a second claim for political asylum in a bid to avoid extradition. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both India Today and Hindustan Times offer nearly identical straight-news coverage, leading with the court approval and the minimum sale price. Each attributes the same ruling language to Master Brightwell and reports Modi's claim to be the 'true settler' without editorialising. Hindustan Times adds a separate section on the CBI arrest of Modi's aide Sandeep Bharat Mistry in the same fraud probe, a development India Today omits entirely. The uniform framing of the core story means readers get a clear, unvarnished account of a legal step forward, with the proceeds to be secured after liabilities are cleared, even as Modi remains in prison and pursues a fresh asylum bid. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Straight agency-style report, leads with court order and price, attributes views to parties - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) Mirrors wire copy on core story, adds separate CBI arrest item without slant This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Enforcement Directorate, London, Nirav Modi, Punjab National Bank, UK High Court Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/uk-court-clears-sale-of-nirav-modis-london-flat-for-3-75-mn/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/uk-court-clears-sale-of-nirav-modis-london-flat-for-3-75-mn/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/