Scotland Yard arrests Mallya in London: Here's how extradition will happen

India had applied to extradite Mallya to face trial after he was charged with conspiracy and fraud

UB Group chairman and former liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya was arrested in London by the Scotland Yard, news channels CNN NEWS18 and Times Now reported on Tuesday afternoon.

He will now be produced before the Westminster Magistrates' Court later in the day.

India had applied to Britain to extradite Vijay Mallya to face trial after the liquor and aviation tycoon was charged with conspiracy and fraud over a loan to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. 

Mallya fled to Britain in March 2016 after being pursued in courts by banks seeking to recover about Rs 9,000 crore owed by his Kingfisher Airline. Despite multiple injunctions, he has failed to appear before investigators at the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Mallya was declared a wilful defaulter by India before he fled to the UK. In September 2016, he submitted before an Indian court that he wanted to come back to India but was "incapacitated" to travel despite "best intentions" as his passport had been revoked. 

The UK conveyed to India, in a February 21 order, that its request for Mallya’s extradition has been certified by the Secretary of State.

The judge will now set a date for the extradition hearing. The hearing must satisfy the judge that the conduct of the individual amounts to an extradition offence.

In the UK, extradition involves several steps, most of which are time-barred but allow several tiers of appeal. Once the Secretary of State has certified that the matter can go to court, and if the court is satisfied that enough information has been supplied, an arrest warrant can be issued. This is the point at which Mallya’s case rests currently.

The court must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the conduct described in the request is an extradition offence (which includes the requirement for dual criminality). Generally the information accompanying a request needs to include: details of the person; details of the offence of which they are accused or convicted; if the person is accused of an offence: A warrant for their arrest or provisional arrest (or an authenticated copy); if someone is unlawfully at large after conviction of an offence: A certificate of the conviction and sentence (or an authenticated copy), or for provisional arrest, details of the conviction; evidence or information that justifies the issue of a warrant for arrest in the UK, within the jurisdiction of a judge of the court that would hold the extradition hearing.

Extradition can be reviewed by the Secretary of State under specific circumstances:

* The person could face death penalty (unless the Secretary of State gets adequate written assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed or, if imposed, will not be carried out)

* There are no speciality arrangements with the requesting country — ‘speciality’ requires that the person must be dealt with in the requesting state only for the offences for which they have been extradited (except in certain limited circumstances)

* The person has already been extradited to the UK from a third state or transferred from the International Criminal Court and consent for onward extradition is required from that third state or that Court (unless the Secretary of State has received consent)

None of these apply to Mallya.

The Secretary of State has to make a decision within two months of the day the case is sent. Unless there is an appeal, an individual must be extradited within 28 days of the Secretary of State’s order.