Mallya's extradition process is 'more complicated': Ujjwal Nikam

New Delhi [India], Apr 18 (ANI): Stating that the extradition process of Vijay Mallya is more complicated because the evidences collected by New Delhi against the beleaguered liquor baron will be accessed by the British Court on the basis of their law, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Tuesday said the moot question that arises here as to why this should be done on the basis of foreign law when the fugitive will ultimately be tried in India. "But we should not be very joyful by this first step for the simple reason that the further procedure and the process of extradition is more complicated because whatever the evidences which we have collected against the criminal fugitive that will be accessed by the British Court on the basis of their law. If British Court found that the evidences collected by the Indian investigator prima facie is evidence on the basis of English law," he said. Nikam told ANI that India has with Mallya's arrest indeed crossed the first hurdle in the extradition process. "I find really funny thing in the extradition process because ultimately the criminal fugitive Vijay Mallya will be tried in India and then the evidence collected by the investigator should be accessed on the basis of Indian law but why on the basis of foreign law. This is the moot question," he added. Mallya, accused of defaulting on loans worth crores, was today arrested by the Scotland Yard in London in what the government counted as a major win in its attempts to bring him to India to face trial. However, Mallya was let off on bail within hours of his arrest. Downplaying the din surrounding his sensational arrest in London, Mallya took a swipe at the Indian media accusing them of 'hyping' the development. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected.</p>&mdash; Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheVijayMallya/status/854294437089902593">April 18, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Mallya's arrest came after a Delhi court had issued an open-ended non-bailable warrant against him 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 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 consider 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 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. It said the government was holding talks with U.K. authorities 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. (ANI)