Britain has become a 'haven' for fugitives: Indian envoy

LONDON: India feels Britain has become a " haven" for fugitives from justice, the country's envoy to the UK said, in an indirect reference to embattled Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya's ongoing extradition case in a UK court.

Indian High Commissioner to the UK Y K Sinha was speaking at the launch of a new book on India-UK ties titled 'Winning Partnership: India-UK Relations Beyond Brexit' in London yesterday.

Sinha made an indirect reference to embattled Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya's ongoing extradition case in UK courts and "anti-India debates" in the UK Parliament and called on the British media to get more "up to speed with where India is today" in its reporting.

"We feel the UK has become a haven for fugitives from justice... The way the UK permits anti-India activity on its soil, in Delhi people are quite perturbed about that. We are also a democratic society but we do not discuss issues that affect our friends and allies," Sinha said.

Mallya, the 61-year-old chief of the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines who owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various Indian banks, has been living in self-imposed exile in Britain since March last year.

He was arrested by Scotland Yard in April on fraud allegations, triggering an official extradition process in the British courts.

He attended a central London police station for his arrest and was released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds, assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents.