London, Apr 18 (PTI) Embattled Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender, was today arrested in London by Scotland Yard on India’s request for his extradition on fraud charges. The 61-year-old liquor baron, wanted in India for defaulting on loans, was arrested after he appeared at a central London police station this morning. “Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Extradition Unit this morning arrested a man on an extraction warrant. Vijay Mallya was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities in relation to accusations of fraud,” Scotland Yard told PTI. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London and is expected to be released on bail later today. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016. In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans. Senior Indian officials described his arrest as the first salvo in the case, which will now involve a legal process in the UK to determine if Mallya can be extradited to India to face charges in Indian courts. India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8. While handing over the request, India had asserted that it has a “legitimate” case against Mallya and maintained that if an extradition request is honoured, it would show British “sensitivity towards our concerns”. Last month, setting in motion the process of extradition of Mallya, the British government had certified India’s request and sent it to a district judge for further action. The extradition process from the UK involves a number of steps including a decision by the judge whether to issue a warrant of arrest. In case of a warrant, the person is arrested and brought before the court for preliminary hearing followed by an extradition hearing before a final decision is taken by the secretary of state. The wanted person has a right to appeal to the higher courts against any decision all the way up to the supreme court. Earlier in January this year, a CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya in the Rs 720-crore IDBI Bank loan default case. PTI
