G20 Summit: Narendra Modi seeks Theresa May's cooperation to bring back Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday pressed upon his British counterpart Theresa May to ensure UK’s cooperation to bring back economic offenders, amidst India working hard for the return of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya and former IPL chief Lalit Modi. Modi reached out to his British counterpart and sought her cooperation to ensure the return of absconding economic offenders during a bilateral meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamaburg, Germany, reported CNN-News18.

In his meeting with British PM Theresa May in Hamburg, PM Modi asked for UK's cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic offenders.

— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2017

PM @narendramodi meets UK PM @theresa_may on sidelines of #G20. Asks for UK's cooprn for return of escaped Indian economic offenders pic.twitter.com/VAwIp5ySvo

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) July 8, 2017

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Among them is Vijay Mallya, who fled India in March 2016 and has been living in the UK ever since. Asked whether India seeking cooperation from the UK was limited to Mallya or whether Lalit Modi was also mentioned, Baglay told reporters, “I don’t want to get into the specifics but the phrase used in the tweet is escaped economic offenders and it is plural.” “These are the brief discussions at such forums where leaders mostly touch upon these top priority matters,” he told reporters in Hamburg. Baglay refused to comment directly on any question related to Mallya. [caption id=“attachment_3791001” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narendra Modi with UK Prime Minister Theresa May at the G20 Summit in Hamburg. Courtesy:Twitter/@MEAIndia[/caption] Mallya, 61, owes over Rs 9,000 crore to a consortium of banks led by SBI, including PNB, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank, Federal Bank and Axis Bank, reported Times Now.  In April, he had been in a central London police station for his arrest and was released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds, assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents. Mallya is currently facing a hearing before the Westminster Magistrates Court in London for his extradition case. Lalit Modi, the former chief of Indian Premier League (IPL), is wanted by the Indian authorities with respect to a money laundering probe and he is said to be in the UK. The former cricket administrator has maintained that he has not done any wrong in any of the IPL deals. The Enforcement Directorate had registered a money laundering case against Lalit Modi and others based on a Chennai police complaint in 2012 on charges of alleged cheating of BCCI-IPL in granting overseas telecast rights of the T20 cricket tournament in 2009. As per News18, India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement: Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was sent back to India in October to face trial in connection with his involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002. The Hindu in 2016 noted that Vijay Mallya was among the list of 57 fugitives India has asked UK to send back, others including members of Sikh extremist groups. With inputs from PTI