Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met his UK counterpart Theresa May on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 Summit in Hamburg and sought Britain’s cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic offenders. His comments were indirectly aimed at Vijay Mallya, the 61-year-old chief of the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines who owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various Indian banks and has been living in self-imposed exile in Britain since March last year.
Modi and May held discussions about the complete range of India-UK ties. In a tweet after the meeting, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the Prime Minister asked for UK’s “cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic offenders”.
Mallya was arrested by Scotland Yards in April on various fraud allegations, which triggered an official extradition process in the British courts. However, he was released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds. He had also assured the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as surrendering his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents.
India and the UK had signed an Extradition Treaty in 1992, but only one extradition has taken place so far under the arrangement -– Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was sent back to India last October to face trial in connection with his involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002.
Source:Indian Express
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