The million-dollar question that continues to reverberate even after years of speculations is -- when will fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya be extradited to India? There has always been a buzz around it. In an online media briefing, British High Commissioner Sir Philip Barton said the UK government "cannot set a timeline" for Mallya's extradition, also ensuring that criminals can't escape justice by crossing national borders.
Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016. He remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017. The High Court verdict in April upheld the 2018 ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at the end of a year-long extradition trial in December 2018 that the former Kingfisher Airlines boss had a "case to answer" in the Indian courts. In May, Mallya lost his appeals in the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to India to face money laundering and fraud charges. This came as a major setback to the 64-year-old businessman as it came weeks after he lost his High Court appeal in April against an extradition order to India.
"The UK government and the courts, which are independent of the government, are absolutely clear about their roles in preventing people avoid justice by moving to another country. We are all determined to play out part in any case and to make sure that we are working together to ensure that criminals can't escape justice by crossing national borders, Barton said today. The envoy said that Mallya's extradition is an ongoing legal case and that the UK government does not have anything new on it.
"The extradition of Vijay Mallya is an ongoing legal case and I can't comment any further on it. I can't say anything at all about timescales," he said in response to a question on when the UK authorities are extraditing the fugitive businessman to India.
(With PTI inputs)
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