Vijay Mallya may soon be extradited to India from UK

It may be noted that on May 14, the High Court of Justice, London, UK rejected the application of Indian fugitive and former liquor baron Vijay Mallya against his extradition to face trial in India.

The judgement also vindicates the painstaking investigation by CBI, especially since Mallya had raised various issues with regard to the admissibility of evidence, the fairness of investigation itself and extraneous consideration, with a view to divert attention from his own acts.

The extradition of Vijay Mallya was sought to face trial in offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy and abuse of official position by public servants, wherein Mallya faced allegations of conspiring with public servants and dishonestly defrauding the IDBI bank to the extent of Rs 900 crores.

Incidently, on May 14 itself Mallya had in a tweet asked the Indian government to accept his offer to repay 100 per cent of his loan dues unconditionally and close case against him.

Mallya, congratulating the government for announcing over the Rs 20 lakh crore Atmanirbhar Bharat package, said that his repeated offers to repay his dues have been ignored.

“Congratulations to the Government for a Covid 19 relief package. They can print as much currency as they want BUT should a small contributor like me who offers 100% payback of State owned Bank loans be constantly ignored?” he said in a tweet.

The former parliamentarian, who ran India`s largest spirits company, United Spirits, and founded the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, faces charges of fraud and money laundering worth $1.3 billion. He left India in March 2016 under the pretext of personal reasons.

Mallya has defrauded at least 17 Indian banks, drawing loans which he allegedly routed to gain full or partial stake in about 40 companies abroad.