‘No risk’ to Mallya in Mumbai jail

London, December 10

There is “no ground at all” to believe that Vijay Mallya faces any risk in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, which has been recently “redecorated”, a UK court said today as it rejected the liquor baron’s attempts to show Indian prisons in a bad light and ordered his extradition.

Prison authorities have kept a high-security cell ready for the 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss.

The court dismissed the defence’s attempts to dispute Indian prison conditions as a bar to his extradition on human rights grounds, saying the video of Barrack 12 of Arthur Road Jail, where Mallya will be held, “gives accurate portrayal and has been recently redecorated”.

“He will have access to personal medical care to manage his diabetes and coronary problems... There was no ground at all to believe that he faces any risk at all (in jail),” the judge ruled.

Delivering the verdict, she said there was “no sign of a false case being mounted against him”. “Having considered evidence as a whole. There is a case to answer,” Judge Arbuthnot said as she ruled that Mallya could be extradited to India to stand trial on the charges brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. Mallya, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crore, had been on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April last year.

After being extradited, Mallya will be lodged in one of the high-security barracks located in a two-storey building inside the prison complex, which also housed 26/11 Mumbai attack terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, a prison official said in Mumbai. A high-security cell has been kept ready at the jail located in central Mumbai, he said.

“We are fully prepared to lodge him safely at our correction centre. If he is brought here, we will take care of his safety and security,” the official said.

An official from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs earlier said Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail was one of the best in the country. The comments had come after the UK judge asked Indian authorities to submit a video of the jail cell where they planned to keep Mallya following his extradition.

The official said adequate medical facilities were available to treat prisoners in the jail where Mallya would a get full security cover as an under-trial prisoner and it was highly secured in accordance with international standards. 

The beleaguered industrialist’s Kingfisher took out a series of loans from banks, in particular IDBI, with the aim of palming off huge losses which he knew the failing airline was going to sustain.

The government had argued that Mallya had no intention of repaying money it borrowed from IDBI in 2009 and that the loans had been taken out under false pretences, on the basis of misleading securities and with the money spent differently to how the bank had been told.—  Agencies

GENESIS & TRIAL

May 9, 2005: UBHL chief Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) begins operations

2013: Indian banks consortium seeks payback of Rs 6,493-cr taken in loan

March 3, 2016: Mallya flees India, takes refuge in London

Feb, 2017: India sends extradition request to UK

April 18: Mallya arrested, released on bail within hours

Oct 3: Mallya re-arrested in money laundering case, released

Dec 4-5: Extradition trial begins

Dec 14: Evidence stage of trial concludes

March 16, 2018: Case returns for hearing, judge notes Indian banks broke rules

April 27: Boost for CBI as judge says its evidence admissible

July 31: Court seeks video of Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail

Sept 12: Mallya claims he met FM Arun Jaitley before leaving India; Jaitley rebuts charge

Dec 10: Judge orders Mallya’s extradition

Barrack 12 for fugitive

Mallya will be lodged in a high-security cell of barrack 12 located in a two-storey building inside Arthur Road prison complex, which housed 26/11 attack terrorist Ajmal Kasab

CBI welcomes order

We welcome the decision and hope to bring Dr Vijay Mallya back soon. CBI has its own inherent strengths. We worked hard on this case. CBI was always strong on facts and legally we were confident while perusing the extradition process Abhishek Dayal, CBI spokesperson