Things heat up for Vijay Mallya as ED and CBI reach UK to deal with extradition process

Vijay Mallya, the king of good times might not have a lot of good times left as India begins to push for extradition. Mallya has defaulted on loans to the tune of several thousand crores and left India to avoid arrest. In April, he was arrested by the British authorities when India requested for his extradition in connection with a loan default case; which is one of the two cases that Mallya is facing. He was bailed out within hours of his arrest and the next date for his case has been set for May 17th.

India has sent a joint task force of Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to London on Tuesday to speed up the process of bringing Mallya back to India to face the law.

The four member team is headed by Rakesh Asthana, additional director of CBI and has two members from ED. The team will be meeting with prosecutors in UK and explain the loan default cases to them in greater details. The case for Mallya’s extradition is now in the British Court.

According to an official, Indian agencies like the ED or CBI have no direct participation in an extradition case, their primary role is to provide evidence and case materials to the prosecutors and assist them in any way possible that would help the prosecutors counter the absconder’s plea in court. The team sent to London aims to strengthen the case against the business tycoon who is known for his flamboyant lifestyle.

Reports suggest that as the CBI and ED joint task force coordinates efforts in the UK, the case will also be one of the topics under discussion when Amber Rudd, the home secretary for UK comes to visit India this week. The talks are aimed at countering any strategy by Mallya and his legal team that might halt the extradition process. It is expected that his legal team might call the case against him a attempt at political vendetta because of his status as an MP during the Congress regime.