The office of Secretary of State in United Kingdom, has certified India’s extradition request for Vijay Mallya.  India’s stance of declaring Vijay Mallya a proclaimed offender has been accepted by the UK Office and pending court orders, the extradition of the Indian Liquor Baron and owner of the erstwhile Kingfisher airlines will be processed.  India, in its claim had asserted through various proof, documented and otherwise, that it has a legitimate case against Vijay Mallya.

Ministry of External Affairs informed on 24 March that the extradition request has been stratified and soon an arrest warrant for Vijay Mallya will be issued by UK authorities, following a routine court order.  Gopal Bagley from the MEA, informed media that last month the UK government had stratified India’s request for extradition and that the order had been sent to Westminister Magistrate to issue a district order arrest warrant against Mallya.

To be noted, earlier this month, the apex court of India had fast tracked the proceedings against Mallya and reserved its order for contempt proceedings against him for allegedly transferring 40 million dollars to his children’s foreign accounts, which was in violation of court orders.  This USD 40 Million had been paid by Diageo to Mallya, which he diverted to his children’s foreign accounts, violating court orders.

The Supreme Court bench, comprising of Justice A.K. Goel and Justice U.U. Lalit had reserved its order on whether or not Mallya was guilty of contempt and what action should be taken to bring back the money.  Subsequent to a more than 3 hours long hearing, the Centre has contended that Vijay Mallya had made a mockery of the Indian judicial system post his fleeing India. The Centre was in talks with UK authorities to get him deported.  Proceedings against Mallya had begun more than a year ago and notices were issued against him in March 2016, towards recovery of bank dues worth about Rs. 9,000 Crores from Mallya and the companies owned by him.  Vijya Mallya then fled from India, much before the Supreme Court took up the case against him.

Source: Media Reports