The United Kingdom has declined to deport Liquor baron and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Mallya and asked the Government of India to account for extradition.

While acknowledging the seriousness of allegations against Mr. Mallya, and expressing their intent to assist the Indian government,they’re not handing him back to India in a hurry.

“They have asked GOI (Government of India) to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition,” said Vikas Swarup, spokesman, ministry of external affairs.

“The UK Government has informed us that under 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter UK was conferred. ” Swarup told the media .

That means, Mallya can legally stay in Britain if his passport was valid when he entered the country. He left India on March 2 and the Indian government revoked his passport only after that, which means his passport was valid when he entered the UK.

Mallya owes more than Rs 9,000 crores to Indian banks. After he left, he has ignored three summonses by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to a money laundering case. Since then, a court has also issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him.

“What I have learned so far is that deportation can’t be allowed if someone entered the UK with a valid passport even if it is cancelled later”, said finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha.

“An alternative process is that when a chargesheet is filed after an investigation, extradition has to be demanded,” he added.

Last month only Indian government wrote to British government for the deportation of Mallya. Mallya’s advocate had expressed concern in court that if Mallya returned, he may be taken straight to Tihar Jail from Delhi airport. In April, the external affairs ministry said that India will ‘forcefully pursue’ Mallya’s deportation.

[Prepared by Animesh from media sources]

  business, Deportation, development, Extradition, Vijay Mallya