CBI team in London to speed up Mallya’s extradition
03 May 2017
A team of officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation has arrived in London to try and expedite the extradition of businessman Vijay Mallya. The team, led by Rakesh Asthana, would hold talks with the British prosecutors.
The 61-year-old former liquor baron, wanted in India for defaulting on loans, was arrested on 19 April after he appeared at a central London police station. He appeared in Westminster Magistrates' Court and walked out on bail a few hours later (See: Mallya gets bail from UK court; extradition still a long way off). http://www.domain-b.com/aero/airlines/20170419_vijay_mallya.html.
Mallya, whose defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs9,000 crore to various creditors, mainly a consortium of 17 banks, had left India on 2 March 2016. While the Indian media says he ''fled'' the country, he in fact departed unopposed on a commercial flight.
In January, an Indian court asked the lenders to start the process of recovering the loans.
The arrest came weeks after finance minister Arun Jaitley indicated that Mallya's extradition would feature in his talks during his visit to the UK.
India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the extradition treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on 8 February.