An Ontario lawyer facing extradition over alleged involvement in an international drug smuggling network is offering to abide by what he describes as the strictest conditions of his career if granted bail.
Deepak Paradkar is proposing to be placed on round-the-clock house arrest, allowed to leave his residence only when accompanied by his wife or another approved family member. He has agreed to surrender all electronic devices, except for his wife’s cellphone, which can only be used under her supervision and for specific purposes.
In addition, Paradkar has suggested being subject to GPS monitoring and surrendering his passport to the RCMP. At a recent bail hearing, he disclosed that he and his wife are each putting up $2.5 million, nearly all of their combined assets, as part of the bail conditions.
Paradkar, a veteran lawyer hailing from Thornhill, Ont., is among the individuals arrested in connection with an FBI probe into Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian turned fugitive. U.S. authorities claim that Paradkar provided legal advice to Wedding regarding the alleged murder of a key witness in a federal case.
These allegations have yet to be tested in Canadian courts, where decisions will be made on the extradition requests for Paradkar and other Canadians implicated in the investigation.