Vijay Mallya arrested in London, but flight to India some way off

NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya, who fled to Britain in March 2016, was arrested “on behalf of Indian authorities” by British police on Tuesday and received bail from a lower court in London. This is the beginning of extradition hearings.

The next court appearance will be on May 17.

Tuesday’s development marks an initial success for the Narendra Modi government, which has been strongly pushing for Mallya’s extradition to India, but it also marks the beginning of a likely long and complicated legal and administrative process.

As has been his wont since landing in Britain, Mallya, who promoted the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, tweeted and criticised Indian media. His tweet post bail said this was “usual Indian media hype”.

India has been pressing its case on extraditing Mallya, who’s accused of money laundering by Indian investigative agencies and sought by banks and courts for loan defaults amounting to Rs 9,000 crore.



A Delhi court has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Mallya, whose passport was revoked by the government earlier.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley is learnt to have urged British PM Theresa May on the importance of extraditing the industrialist whose business once extended from liquor to airlines and cricket to F1. CBI, ET has learnt, has emphasised Mallya’s alleged money laundering activities in its extradition request.

British and Indian officials met in February this year to discuss India’s extradition requests, which include Mallya’s case and 15 others. Tuesday’s action, Indian officials said, demonstrated that British authorities have taken on board Indian government’s arguments on Mallya.

Notably, another Indian extradition request, on Rajesh Kapur, an Indian citizen accused of child abduction and financial fraud, may soon be successful. Mallya’s arrest is therefore being seen as a good augury by officials in CBI and ED.

But, officials here explained, India’s extradition request will have to negotiate several legal and procedurals hurdles.

The judge hearing the extradition case must be satisfied that Mallya’s alleged offences in India would have been offences of equal gravity in Britian, that there are no statutory bars against extraditing the former chief of UB, and that no human rights violation will occur. This process may take six months, lawyers familiar with UK extradition process said.

If the judge is satisfied there’s a case for extradition, the decision rests with the British home secretary (equivalent of India’s home minister). But Mallya can challenge the judge’s ruling in British high court and then the Supreme Court, and he can also submit a representation to the British home secretary. Altogether, the process can go on for months, lawyers said.

UNCERTAINTIES
Officials said that although the beginning has been good, there were still a number of uncertainties.

Many prominent fugitives from Indian law who have fled to Britain have not been extradited despite many Indian reminders.

The list includes Ravi Shankaran (accused in the Indian Navy war room leak case), Tiger Hanif (wanted in connection with two bomb attacks in Gujarat in 1993) and Nadeem Saifi (wanted in Gulshan Kumar murder case).

CBI and ED have both been investigating Mallya. The former has chargesheeted Mallya in the IDBI bank loan case and the latter has been investigating alleged transfer of money to offshore accounts. Both agencies are continuing their investigations and more charges are likely.

Indian banks' efforts to sell Mallya’s assets hasn’t been too successful, with only the Kingfisher villa in Goa getting sold recently.

Banks had earlier rejected a settlement offer from Mallya.