PM Modi, May discuss Vijay Mallya extradition issue

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, April 18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his ongoing visit to London for the Commonwealth Summit on Wednesday discussed the issue of Vijay Mallya with his UK counterpart Theresa May.

According to sources, Mallya’s extradition issue figured in official talks between the two leaders.

The 61-year-old liquor baron is wanted for defaulting on loans worth Rs 9,000 crore to bail out his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya who has been evading Indian justice system continues to make headlines with his flamboyant lifestyle in the United Kingdom where he was arrested twice and released on bail last year.

While 10 Downing Street suggested that legal matters had been discussed between the two leaders, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in response to a question said,“The issue of economic offenders was also raised and this was among a number of consular issues that were raised.”

Mallya has called charges against him as politically motivated and opposed the ongoing complex extradition trial on various grounds, including poor state of prisons in India.

India has submitted a 2,000-page dossier against Mallya in court as evidence through the Crown Prosecution service representing the Modi government. A final judgement in the case is expected in the next few weeks.

The meeting comes at a time when UK is keen to enhance trade ties with India in the post-Brexit scenario. UK is today the largest G20 investor in India over the past decade while India has the fourth largest number of investment projects in the UK.

India-UK name Pak terror groups

Terrorism was also a key component in official talks held in London and reflected in the joint statement.

“The leaders agreed that terrorist and extremist organisations need to be denied space to radicalise, recruit and conduct attacks on innocent people; for this all countries need to work together to disrupt terrorist networks, their financing and movement of terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters,” said the joint statements.

Naming terror outfits operating from Pakistani soil the statement further added, “The leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation to take decisive and concerted actions against globally-proscribed terrorists and terror entities to protect our citizens, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Haqqani Network, Al Qaeda, ISIS (Da’esh) and their affiliates, as well as tackling the online radicalisation and violent extremism which feeds this.”