India on Thursday asked Britain to ensure early extradition of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, wanted back home in a bank default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi sought early conclusion of the extradition process of Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by a Mumbai court, during his talks with his UK counterpart Patsy Wilkinson, the second permanent secretary in the British Home Office, official sources said.
"We have discussed how to remove the bottlenecks in processing extradition requests. The process involved in matters of extradition and the need to further improve them were also discussed," Home Ministry Adviser Ashok Prasad said.
Though Prasad maintained no specific case was discussed at the meeting, some other official sources said the Mallya case was indeed raised by the Union home secretary. Prasad said Mallya's case was subjudice.
Also Read: Extradition Is Coming: How One Case Got Vijay Mallya On The Hook
Mallya, who has been living in Britain since last year, was arrested by Scotland Yard last month at India's request for his extradition. Within hours of his arrest, Mallya, accused of cheating and fraud, was released on bail by a London court.
The U.K.'s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will argue the case on behalf of the Indian authorities when it comes up before the court.
India and the U.K. signed an extradition treaty in 1992, but so far only one person has been sent back under it.
Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel was extradited last October to face trial for his alleged involvement in the post-Godhra Gujarat riots of 2002.
However, unlike Mallya, Patel had submitted to the extradition order without offering legal challenge. India had made a formal extradition request for Mallya through a note verbale, a diplomatic communication, on February 8.
Mehrishi lauded the U.K.'s effort for extraditing Mallya and offered New Delhi's help to the prosecution in pursuing the case in London.
Also Read: Vijay Mallya Is A Victim Of Circumstance, Says Lawyer Satish Maneshinde
The sources said India told the British delegation if one-on-one contact could be established between the prosecuting agency in India and the Crown Prosecution or Department of Prosecution, it would be speedier and easier to present evidence before the judge concerned.
The Indian side said authorities will inform the U.K. about the proceedings or court hearings happening in cases of criminals wanted by Britain living in India and wanted it to be reciprocated.
Both sides agreed to sign an MoU in July on reworking the agreement on security cooperation.
India also offered to drop cases registered against a Bangladeshi national, who is lodged in Assam, so he can be extradited to England.
Sources said India expected reciprocity from England. If people wanted here are facing criminal charges in Britain, those should be dropped and their extradition facilitated, they said.
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