Vijay Mallya arrested in London, gets bail

The Dollar Business Bureau

Embattled business tycoon and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India in the loans defaulting case, was on Tuesday arrested by the Scotland Yard in London on extradition request by India on fraud charges. 

The 61-year-old flamboyant businessman has been announced a proclaimed offender by India, was arrested when he appeared at a police station in central London on Tuesday morning. However, he was soon released on bail just after a few hours. 

“Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Extradition Unit this morning arrested a man on an extradition warrant. Vijay Mallya was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities in relation to accusations of fraud,” said a statement from Scotland Yard. 

Mallya appeared at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in capital city of UK and was seen coming out along with his legal advisors just a few hours later when he was granted bail. 

“Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected,” Mallya tweeted just after getting the bail. 

Mallya is the owner of now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines and owes over Rs.9,000 crore to several banks. He had fled the country in March, 2016. 

The arrest of Mallya comes a few weeks after the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had pointed that the extradition of Mallya would be a feature of his discussions during his UK visit. 

On February 8, India had submitted a formal request for Mallya’s extradition as per the Extradition Treaty signed between India and UK via a note verbale. 

In March, to set in motion the extradition process of Mallya, the UK government had certified the request of India and forwarded it to the district judge for taking further action. 

The process of extradition from Britain involves various steps that include a decision by a judge on issuing of an arrest warrant. 

The wanted person can also appeal against the decision in the higher courts, up to supreme court.