Vijay Mallya arrested in London for role in money laundering; released on bail soon after

Business tycoon Vijay Mallya on Tuesday was arrested in London in for his alleged role in a money laundering case. However, like in April, the liquor baron received bail within minutes of his arrest.

Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016.

In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans.

Senior Indian officials described his arrest as the first salvo in the case, which will now involve a legal process in the UK to determine if Mallya can be extradited to India to face charges in Indian courts.

India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8.

In July this year, the Ministry of External Affairs (said the process for extradition of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines owner Vijay Mallya is underway. 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the matter with British Prime Minister (Theresa May) during their meeting on the sidelines of G-20,' Baglay said.

'The fact that the Prime Minister raised the matter shows the importance India attaches to the issue,' he added. In a June hearing at London court, in a major setback to India, the court expressed surprise that New Delhi has not provided evidence to Mallya yet, who is battling a slew of cases in India over his default case involving Rs. 9,000 crore worth loans to a clutch of public sector banks.

While handing over the request, India had asserted that it has a "legitimate" case against Mallya and maintained that if an extradition request is honoured, it would show British "sensitivity towards our concerns".

In April, he was arrested by Scotland Yard on India's request for his extradition on fraud charges. However, three hours after his arrest, various TV channels stated that he had been granted bail 

In June this year, the Enforcemenr Directorate filed its first charge sheet against Mallya in the IDBI-KFA bank loan case.

The 57-page charge sheet or prosecution complaint, with voluminous annexures, was filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special anti-money laundering court in Mumbai.

The Enforcement Directorate had registered a criminal case in this deal last year under the PMLA and has attached assets worth over Rs 9,600 crore till now. Officials said the agency has stated in detail in the charge sheet how funds of about Rs 400 crore were moved abroad in alleged violation of rules.

It has also mentioned the role of other officials and executives of KFA and IDBI in this deal and has appended their statements recorded by the agency under the PMLA law. The investigations conducted by the ED so far had stated that its probe found that the Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) along with IDBI bank officials "criminally conspired to obtain funds to the tune of Rs 860.92 crore despite weak financials, negative net-worth, non-compliance of corporate credit policy of new client, non-quality collateral security and low credit rating of the borrower, out of which Rs 807.82 crore of principal amount remains unpaid".

The total loan sanctioned and disbursed by IDBI to KFA was Rs 860.92 crore. The ED had said its "money trail analysis revealed that out of the total loan of Rs 860.92 crore, sanctioned and disbursed by IDBI, Rs 423 crore has been remitted out of India.