Mallya case in mind, India to seek faster extradition process from UK

Including the case of Vijay Mallya, 16 extradition requests by India are pending with the UK government.

With businessman Vijay Mallya in mind, India will seek faster extradition processes between India and the UK at their bilateral home affairs dialogue on Wednesday, officials familiar with the development said. For its part, the British side is pushing for early implementation of a pact on return of illegal immigrants.

Vijay Mallya arrives for a hearing for his extradition case at Westminster Magistrates Court in London. Mallya flew to the UK from India in March 2016 as lenders to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines closed in on him to recover around ₹9,000 crore of loans.(AP File Photo)

The British delegation will be led by Patsy Wilkinson, second permanent secretary in the UK home office, and Indian side by home secretary Rajiv Gauba.

“Speeding up the extradition process is among the agenda. We would rather not focus much on the cases that are under the consideration of courts, but there is a lot we need to streamline in terms of extradition process and cooperation under mutual legal assistance,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity .

Including the case of Mallya, who flew to the UK from India in March 2016 as lenders to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines closed in on him to recover around ₹9,000 crore of loans, 16 extradition requests by India are pending with the UK government.

In the past, one fugitive, Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel ,was extradited from the UK on 18 October 2016.

Patel was wanted in connection with the Gujarat riots of 2002. That is the only extradition of an Indian national from the UK. The extradition treaty between the two countries was signed in September 1992 and it came into force after the Instruments of Ratification were exchanged on 15 November 1993. The India-UK home affairs dialogue was instituted during British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to India in November 2016.

The two sides discuss issues such as counter-terrorism, law enforcement as well as visa issues at this forum.

The UK is also keen that India comes on board a bilateral agreement on returning illegal immigrants; the pact could not be signed when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited London in April because of a range of concerns; they ranged from fears of mass deportation to possible security breaches.

According to British authorities, the largest group of illegal migrants in the UK is from India, numbering between 75,000 and 100,000.

British officials have been telling India signing the pact would streamline the migration process.