On the run for nearly four years, notorious Jamnagar gangster Jayesh Patel had been nabbed in London. Also known as Jaysukh Ranpariya (43), his trial in India was put on hold. But luck has run out following an extradition order to India from district judge Sarah-Jane Griffiths in London on Thursday.
Patel earlier said he would have suicidal tendencies if extradited. He cited Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), following torture by the Gujarat police. He also claimed to have had suicidal tendencies.
Sarah-Jane Griffiths, who delivered the judgment at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, refused to buy the point that he had PTSD, although she stated that Patel had moderate depression. In addition, she agreed he attempted to end his life in Belmarsh prison in February last year.
She was quoted as saying by a national daily, “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 added that there was no risk that Patel would receive a sentence of life imprisonment that could never be
reduced in India. Consequently, she believed, there was no risk of a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights in this case which states: ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.’
According to the report, the extradition request has referred to 40 offences committed by Patel in India. These included cheating, forgery of land and financial documentation, and extortion.
His extradition is sought for four conspiracies to murder between 2018 and 2021. He’s linked to the murder of advocate Kirit Joshi. He is accused of plotting an attack on Parshottam Rajani, a property developer and land broker in Jamnagar. The list of crimes also includes ordering the killings of Girish Der and Hasmuk Pedadia, who were shot at but survived. In all, he has 42 criminal cases against him.
