The Jamnagar gangster Jayesh Patel must be extradited to India, where he will be tried for a slew of suspected "soparis" (contract killings), including the murder of local lawyer Kirit Joshi, according to a London judge's judgment.
Patel, 43, also known as Jaysukh Ranpariya, said he was suffering from depression, was in serious danger of committing suicide if extradited, and had post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of being "tortured" by Gujarati police.
At Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, district judge Sarah-Jane Griffiths delivered the ruling and stated that she did not think the man had PTSD or that the Indian police had tortured him. She determined that he suffered from mild to serious depression, that he had tried suicide by overdosing in Belmarsh Prison in February 2022, and that he had been abused while incarcerated.
But she said “I find that it is significant that the defendant only raised the issue of his mental health after his arrest in the UK and after he had been in prison for a time. I find that the defendant does not suffer from a mental illness that removes his capacity to resist the impulse to commit suicide. I find that the defendant’s suicide risk is likely to increase should extradition be ordered. I find that the risk can be managed in both the UK, at the time of his removal and in India. I find that should the defendant seek to end his life, then this would be a voluntary act and I find that the defendant was capable of resisting such an impulse. The defendant does not suffer from a mental illness that removes his capacity to resist the impulse to commit suicide,” she said, referring to the crucial threshold needed to be met for the extradition to be considered “unjust or oppressive” under UK laws.
