London, Apr 24 (PTI) A court in London on Thursday discharged a businessman wanted in India for fraud allegations on unconditional bail pending a UK High Court appeal, which it noted would be disposed of “shortly”.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring discharged Virkaran Awasty at a brief hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, not attended in person by the parties involved.

While he did not go into any details of the extradition case against Awasty, the senior district judge said he wanted to hand down his ruling in open court to ensure “fair and balanced” coverage given the press interest in India.

The requested person, Virkaran Awasty, is formally discharged on unconditional bail pending a single live matter before the High Court, to be “shortly disposed of”, Justice Goldspring said.

The counsel for defence and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities, attended the hearing virtually via videolink.

Following some reports emanating from Delhi claiming the CPS had sought added assurances from the Indian government about where “requested persons” in extradition cases would be detained pending their trials in India, the UK authorities have distanced themselves from any official response on the matter.

“The CPS’ role in extradition cases is to represent requesting states during proceedings in courts in England and Wales,” said a CPS spokesperson.

They declined to address claims that specific assurances had been sought from India against pretrial detentions at Delhi’s Tihar jail over human rights concerns.

“It would not be appropriate to comment on legal discussions,” the spokesperson added.

The Awasty case dates back many years and is believed to involve allegations of fraud and money laundering. It marks the latest extradition matter to be dismissed in the UK courts, following the discharge earlier this month of Sanjay Bhandari, wanted in Delhi to face charges of alleged tax evasion and money laundering.

In Bhandari’s case, the High Court in London ruled that the defence sector consultant was “at real risk of extortion, accompanied by threatened or actual violence, from other prisoners and/or prison officials” in Tihar, which would infringe his rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). PTI AK GSP GSP