India formally requests U.K. to hand over Vijay Mallya

Foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup confirmed on 9^th February that India has handed over a formal request to United Kingdom for Vijay Mallya's extradition to face trial in India. The request was made by the CBI and the same was handed over to the UK high commission in New Delhi. Mr. Swarup said, & quot We have an extradition treaty with the UK, and we believe we have a legitimate case against Mallya.& quot It would be an example of Indo-British cooperation, he stressed. There has not been any similar extradition request for the former cricket administrator, Lalit Modi, who is also a fugitive from Indian justice, residing in the UK. The CBI had moved court last November with the request. Mallya had fled to London on March 2, last year. A non-bailable warrant had been obtained against Mallya after filing a charge sheet last month. In a series of tweets towards the end of January, Mallya complained of a & quot witch hunt& quot against him.& quot The extradition request, officials said, had to be issued, as Mallya didn't respond to requests by the CBI to join investigations over the last 11 months. The CBI charge sheet last month said undue favors were shown to KFA in sanctioning and disbursal of loans of Rs 1,300 crore and there were many acts of omission and commission on the part of IDBI Bank officials in the process. The Vijay Mallya case is expected to be a test of U.K.'s ability to assist India in dealing with financial fraud as about a dozen extradition requests from India are currently pending with the UK authorities. Sources said they are expecting a positive response regarding the case from London.

This is the first positive step taken by the government to handle the Mallya case. The extradition request is a test of the India-UK partnership after the UK refused to deport Mallya last year wherein CBI's request for the liquor baron's extradition was dispatched through the foreign ministry.