London court orders extradition of gangster Jayesh Ranpariya to India

Some of the cases against Ranpariya in Jamnagar district of Gujarat were filed when Bhadran was posted as the superintendent of Jamnagar district police a couple of years ago. “This is a significant victory in bringing Ranpariya to book and a first incident when a favourable ruling from a UK court has been won in case seeking extradition of someone wanted in Gujarat,” Bhadran further said.

Ranpariya is believed to have been hiding in the UK since 2018.

The DIG further said that the court has referred the matter to the office of the British Home Secretary for further process of extradition. “Generally, the British government hasn’t gone against a court judgement ordering extradition,” said Bhadran, adding the gangster will have the option of appealing against the British Home Secretary’s order if the UK government clears his extradition to India.

Incidentally, India has been trying to secure extradition of fugitive businessmen Vijay Malya and Nirav Modi and former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi also.

Ranpariya was detained by Interpol from Croydon in London in March 2021 and after he refused consent to be extradited to India, the Westminster Magistrate’s Court had sent him to Wandsworth prison.

“We had sought his extraction to India for trial in four serious criminal cases. They included murder of advocate Kirit Joshi, attempts on life of builders Jaysukh Pedhadiya and Girish Der by firing on them and Prof Parsottam Rajani, a lecturer at a college,” Nitish Pandey, superintendent of police of Devbhumi Dwarka district who is part of the Gujarat police team working on the extradition of Ranpariya said.

Pandey said that with the help of Crown Prosecution Service of Britain, Gujarat police put on record sufficient evidence to win a favourable ruling from the Magistrate’s Court. “The court sought to know what evidence was there to establish that there are prima facie cases against the accused. It was a daunting challenge as in all four cases, Ranpariya was the conspirator. However, we produced audio recordings of his extra-judicial confessions that he was involved in these cases as well as statements of co-accused as evidence,” said the SP.

Pandey was posted as the additional SP of Jamnagar when cases were lodged against Ranpariya and he was investigating officer in a case registered against the gangster under the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GUJCTOC) Act in October, 2020.

Joshi was allegedly stabbed to death in full public view by two men who came riding a bike, outside the advocate’s office in Jamnagar on April 18, 2018. In November 2019, four men had allegedly opened fire on the residence and car of Prof Rajani in Jamnagar city. Seven months later, three persons had fired on Girish Der in July 2020. Six months hence, four persons had opened fire on Pedhadiya in January 2021.

“Ranpariya argued that cases against him in Gujarat were politically motivated as he had participated in the Patidar quota stir and that conditions in India were not safe and that the Indian judiciary was not independent. However, we managed to counter these claims successfully,” Pandey added.