Nabbing Vijay Mallya: The Hurdles Ahead

From hiring top lawyers to exerting diplomatic pressure, the government is pulling out all the stops to extradite fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya
 

- Sandeep Unnithan and Uday Mahurkar

Months after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)started off the extradition process for the fugitive liquor tycoon, Vijay Mallya was formally arrested by the Scotland Yard in London on April 18. But it all began in India on January 31, 2017, with the issue of an arrest warrant in a Rs 900 crore IDBI Bank loan default case.

Mallya, who owes Indian banks Rs 6,963 crore (Rs 9,000 crore with interest), fled the country on March 2 last year. He appeared before the Holborn police station in central London and was released hours later by the Westminster Magistrate’s Court on a £650,000 bail bond. Mallya will reappear before the court on May 17, the next date for the extradition process which legal experts say could last up to a year.

The CBI and Enforcement Directorate officials feel Mallya’s extradition could turn out to be a less tortuous process than expected, despite the fact that he will have three layers of the court to appeal to. Their optimism is grounded on two reasons. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) wants Mallya back in India to face trial without delay. The PMO has offered its unstinted support, playing a key role in kicking off the extradition process and has not been averse to mounting diplomatic pressure on the UK government to speed up the trial.

In November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally explained to visiting British PM Theresa May why getting Mallya was important for India. Modi and his finance minister, Arun Jaitley, held a meeting on the Mallya case before the latter’s visit to the UK this February. Mallya’s extradition was discussed by Jaitley when he met Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in London on February 28, a meeting where UK PM May dropped in.