Former Kingfisher employee relieved post Mallya's arrest

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India] Apr 18 (ANI): Expressing delight post the arrest of beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya from London, former Kingfisher employee Neetu Shukla on Tuesday said the employees will cherish the move further more when they recover their dues. "I am really happy that it finally happened. It's like winning a long protracted matter. Even though it is just the first step, still it's a major victory. Final justice will come when we will recover our dues," she told ANI. She added the decision depends solely on the government's intentions. "The government will decide whether they feel that the employees, who worked for a particular company should be the first one to claim the recovery," Shukla said. She asserted this result is out in front because of the media's continued effort. In a major development for the Indian Government, Mallya was arrested by the Scotland Yard in London on extradition request. Mallya, who was finally caught after repeatedly refusing to appear before courts and investigators in India since he secretly fled to Britain last March, is set to be produced before the Westminster Magistrates' court soon. This comes after a Delhi court issued an open-ended non-bailable warrant against Mallya in connection with the 1995 FERA violation case. Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that Mallya's extradition has been stratified by the Secretary of State of the U.K. Government and soon a warrant would be released against him. "Somewhere in the month of February, the home office of the U.K. Government conveyed that India's request for extradition of Mallya has been stratified by the Secretary of State and sent to Westminster Magistrate court for a district judge to consider the issue of releasing of warrant," MEA official spokesperson Gopal Bagley told the media. In March, the Supreme Court fast-tracked the proceedings against Mallya and reserved its order on contempt proceedings against him for allegedly diverting $40 million to his children's accounts in foreign banks in violation of the court orders. A bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit reserved its order on whether or not Mallya was guilty of contempt and what action should be taken to bring back the money. The court concluded the proceedings after a three-and-a-half-hour hearing during which the Centre contended that Mallya was mocking the Indian system after fleeing the country. The government then said that it was holding talks with the authorities in UK to get him deported. The apex court had started proceedings against Mallya a year ago and had issued notice to him on March 8, 2016 on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) for recovery of about Rs. 9,000 crore which the businessman and his companies owed to them. The liquor baron, however, fled the country days before the apex court took up the case against him. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi urged the court to direct Mallya to bring back the $40 million, which he had received from Diageo. He told the bench that Mallya had breached the court's orders and his refusal to bring back the money had aggravated the breach and he should be directed to appear personally. (ANI)