Britain: Indian citizen arrested in Britain on US warrant, has connection with terrorist organization

An Indian national arrested in Britain on a US warrant in a terror financing case was produced before a London court on Wednesday. The court said that it would challenge his extradition on the grounds of human rights. The name of the accused is Sundar Nagarajan, who is about 65 years old and is originally from Madurai. According to reports, Nagarajan’s arrest is related to suspected terrorist financing and money laundering.

Sundar Nagarajan appeared via videolink from prison at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a case hearing. Whose extradition hearing was set for 2024 by District Judge John Jani and said that both the parties are expected to present their evidence, concrete arguments and answers by January 14 next year.

Nagarajan’s lawyer, George Hepburn Scott, told the court that he would challenge the extradition on Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Britain is a signatory, and also on the grounds of double criminality, without going into details. Mark Summers, a lawyer representing the US government for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), asked for further details on these grounds of challenge when the first set of arguments is presented next month by August 9.

Sundar Nagarajan also known as Nagarajan Sundar Poongulam Kashiviswanathan Naga and Nagarajan Nagarajan of Sundar Poongulam with addresses in UK and Belgium. Nagarajan was arrested by the National Extradition Unit of the Metropolitan Police on April 18 from an address in Hayes, west London. The court heard that armed police officers raided his home to arrest him and confiscate his belongings and arrested him.

The court was told that Nagarajan is an accountant linked to the finances of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and is wanted by the US authorities for fraud and money laundering offences. Nagarajan’s arrest follows a crackdown by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command arresting a 50-year-old man in Wales on suspicion of funding terrorism.