India, it was reliably learned from a high level source, will adopt a strategy of trying to convince the British judiciary that Mallya committed fraud, so as to get him back to India. This was finalised at discussions between officials of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Director of the Finance Ministry and Britain's Crown Prosecution Service lawyers in London.
In effect, what will be pursued is the CBI’s charge in India that Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines collapsed owing thousands of crores to various Indian banks, colluded with officials of IDBI Bank to obtain a loan of Rs 900 crore. The facility was allegedly granted despite the company’s “weak financial position and low credit rating”.
The extradition process between Britain and non-European Union countries, notwithstanding a 1993 treaty on the subject between the United Kingdom and
India, is long and tortuous. No absconder wanted by India under this agreement has involuntarily ever been repatriated by a British court, including people allegedly involved in acts of murder and terrorism.
Last year, Samirbhai Patel, said to be connected with the heinous 2002 Gujarat riots, returned of his own will. It is believed he did so thinking Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at both Gujarat and the Centre may take a lenient view of his wrongdoing. This was indirectly an indictment of the present dispensation's human rights credentials.
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