No threat to Mallya’s life in jail, India to tell UK court

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 14

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has formalised its response, which will be conveyed to a British court hearing the extradition proceedings against fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya, that the businessman will not face any threat to his life in jail if extradited to India in connection with the Rs9,000 crore loan default.

A senior MHA official said Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba held a high-level meeting with senior officials of the agency concerned on Monday and formalised the Indian response for which a reference was received from the Ministry of External Affairs.

It was decided that India’s Mission in London through the Crown Prosecution Service, which is arguing the extradition case of Mallya on behalf of the Indian Government, would convey the assurance to the Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

The meeting deliberated on the response to be filed in the UK court, rejecting Mallya’s apprehension that he would not be safe in Indian jail if sent back to India to face trial in the Rs9,000 crore Kingfisher Airlines loan default cases.

The MHA official said a detailed assessment was made about the security cover provided to inmates in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail and Delhi’s Tihar jail. “The Indian government will tell the UK court that when extradited, Mallya may be lodged in Arthur Road jail, where he will get full security cover as an undertrial,” he said, adding that it would also be conveyed that both undertrial and convicted get full security cover.

The Westminster Magistrates’ Court will start hearing the extradition proceedings from December 4 and a reply by India would be filed in the next few days. “It is the duty of the state to ensure security and Mallya’s apprehension about threat is misleading,” India will tell the court.

Mallya has been in the UK since March 2016 and was arrested by the Scotland Yard on April 18.

If the judge rules in favour of extradition, the UK home secretary must order Mallya’s extradition within two months of the appropriate day, said the official, adding that still the case could go through many appeals before arriving at a conclusion.

Will get ‘full security’ as undertrial

• An MHA official said that during a high-level meeting a detailed assessment was made about the security cover provided to inmates in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail and Delhi’s Tihar jail
• “The Indian government will tell the UK court that when extradited, Vijay Mallya may be lodged in Arthur Road jail, where he will get full security cover as an undertrial,” he said
• The Westminster Magistrates’ Court will start hearing the extradition proceedings from December 4 and a reply by India would be filed in the next few days