If there is one Indian that every Indian loves to hate, it would be Vijay Mallya. The self-described king of good times left his airline employees in the lurch, decamped aboard leaving vast unpaid loans behind and continued to live the good life safely parked in England. He has been evading extradition for years now; however the latest news is encouraging.
Sajid Javid, UK Home Secretary has signed off on the extradition process. In the event, Indian authorities are one step closer to bringing Mallya back to India to face a trial for charges such as conspiracy to defraud and money laundering offences. Westminster Magistrates' Court in London had made a ruling against Mallya in December 2018 which has been ratified by the Home Secretary.
According to representatives of the central government, this is a part of the Narendra Modi government's efforts to ensure that public money is brought back to India and the guilty brought to book.
Mallya owes a lot of financial institutions a lot of money. So there are a lot of entities interested in him being brought back to India to face trial for his alleged crimes.
The party in power at the centre is exultant about the news. According to the BJP, this is a case of the Mallya, the King of Good Times being nabbed by the Chowkidar or guard as the PM has frequently described himself.
The headlines are currently full of the news about West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's standoff against the centre, her dharna and the current spat between the CBI and Kolkata police. The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a dig about this in his tweet; calling Banerjee’s party ‘Saradha scamsters’ and the opposition as ‘Kleptocrat’s Club’ in another tweet.
This tweet by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy once again gained currency as several commentators repeated their question as to why Mallya was permitted to leave in the first place.
Commentators on TV debates as well as several of the Tweeple, of course, questioned the timing of Vijay Mallya’s extradition order. Questions are being asked about why the order was passed three years after he escaped from India and why this order coincides with the run-up to the elections.
After Mallya made the revelation about meeting the FM prior to leaving Indian shores, many had questioned how and why Mallya was permitted to escape.
According to Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, he had warned about Mallya being a flight risk days before he absconded but his warnings were ignored. According to Dave, Mallya was allowed to flee and the fact that he may be brought back now after years and crores being spent is a ‘cruel joke’. Many of the tweeple seemed to agree.
While Mallya's extradition process has taken a positive step forward, he still has an appeals option to exhaust. Vijay Mallya has every intention of appealing within the 14 day period granted to him. Moreover, India's history of successful extraditions has been poor to say the least. So as we say in common parlance, Delhi abhi door hai.
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