Vijay Mallya arrested, granted bail: Extradition won't be easy, says legal experts

New Delhi: It would not be easy to extradite controversial industrialist Vijay Mallya, who went to the UK a year ago and did not return despite summons to him by the courts here for defaulting on loans, legal experts said. Senior advocates K T S Tulsi and Dushyant Dave were of the view that the courts in the UK are very independent and do not grant extradition easily. [caption id=“attachment_2939028” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Vijay Mallya. AFP[/caption] Tulsi said that though the Indian government has sent the evidence against Mallya to the UK courts while requesting his extradition, the courts there will “evaluate it independently to see if the evidence is sufficient” to send him back here. He also said that Mallya’s arrest on Tuesday by Scotland Yard and his subsequent release on bail the same day shows it may not be easy to get him back here. Tulsi said when there is a request for extradition then normally bail is granted only after 60 days, but Mallya was given the relief on the same day. He also said that in the past 50 requests for extradition sent to the UK, the courts there have granted only one. Dave was also of a similar view as he said that courts there are independent and “do not grant extradition so easily”. He, however, refused to comment further on it saying he was not fully versed with the procedure followed by the courts there. This reason was cited by several other senior lawyers who wished not to be named. Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender in India, was arrested in London by the Scotland Yard on India’s request for his extradition on fraud charges. The 61-year-old liquor baron, wanted in India for defaulting on loans, was arrested after he appeared at a central London police station this morning. The flamboyant businessman, who once called himself ‘The King of Good Times", was released on bail a few hours later.