Vijay
Mallya, who remained in Britain for the past one year, was arrested in Britain
on Tuesday. Mallya was arrested on the request of the Indian government for his
extradition to the charges of fraud. Although Westminster Court granted him
bail after few hours. Mallya is accused
of not paying a loan of Rs 9000 crore. In India, Mallya has been declared a 'defaulter'
and he left the country on March 2 last year to avoid arrest.
The
61-year-old Mallya, who once called himself 'The King of Good Times' , was
arrested on Tuesday morning and appeared in the Central London Police Station.
Scotland
Yard said, 'The extradition unit of the Metropolitan Police arrested a person
on an extradition warrant in the morning today (Tuesday, April 18). Vijay
Mallya was arrested on behalf of the Indian officials in connection with the
allegations of cheating. '
Mallya, present at Central London Police Station Metropolitan
Police said that he was arrested and was appeared in the Central London Police
Station.
He appeared
in Westminster Magistrate Court in London and after a few hours he was seen
coming out with his legal team after getting bail.
A member of
the team of Mallya said in court without giving any details of the bail
conditions, 'It was a voluntary action. He will come out in a few minutes. '
Mallya
wielded the media
After
getting the bail, the liquor trader said, 'Generally it is a sensation
spreading by the Indian media. Extradition hearings in court began on Tuesday '
Mallya's
passive Kingfisher Airlines has liability for more than nine thousand crores of
different banks. He ran from India on March 2, 2016 and reached Britain. In
January an Indian court ordered a group of banks to begin the process of
collection of debt.
Successes of Indian Efforts
Senior
Indian officials said that his arrest was the first success in the case, now in
the UK it will be a legal process to decide if Mallya can be extradited to face
charges in Indian courts.
Mallya's
arrest happened after weeks of the sign given by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
in which he had said that during his visit to UK, the issue of extradition of
Mallya will include the issue.
India had
formally requested for extradition of Mallya through a 'note verbale' on
February 8, in line with an extradition treaty with Britain. New Delhi had
given the insistence that he had a 'justified' case against Mallya. It had
mentioned that if extradition inspection is respected, then it will display
Britain's 'sensitivity' towards 'our concerns'.
Extradition
process
Last month,
the British government had certified the request of India in relation to
Mallya's extradition process and sent it to a district judge for further
action.
The process
of extradition from Britain involves several steps including issuing arrest
warrants by the judge. In the case of a warrant, the person is arrested and
brought to court for initial hearing. Then there is an extradition hearing
before the External Affairs Minister makes a final decision. The desired person
has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court against any decision in the higher
courts.
Earlier this
year, a CBI court had issued non-bailable warrants against Mallya in the
default IDBI Bank loan case of Rs 720 crore.
------Ashish Jha
