According to reports from news agency ANI, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently raised the issue of extraditing fugitives Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi in every India-UK trade-related meeting.
Sources revealed that delegations from the United Kingdom visiting India have faced pressure from the Indian government to extradite Mallya and Nirav Modi on multiple occasions.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, in a recent interview with Times Now, mentioned that the British often complained that the first question PM Modi would ask in any interview was related to the extradition proceedings of Mallya and Nirav Modi.
Salve stated that PM Modi has strongly conveyed to the UK government that they cannot be trade partners and a safe haven for fugitives at the same time.
Vijay Mallya, the chairman of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, was ordered to be extradited by the British judiciary in 2019 but is yet to be sent to India. Similarly, diamantaire Nirav Modi has been held in custody at Wandsworth prison in south London since his arrest in 2019.
India and the United Kingdom signed an extradition treaty in 1992, which was ratified the following year and has been in force since then.
In December last year, Nirav Modi’s plea to move the UK’s Supreme Court against his extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering was denied.
Nirav lost his bid to appeal his extradition on mental health grounds in the High Court in London. He is the prime accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam involving an amount of Rs 13,500 crore and had fled India.
Earlier in March, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, without mentioning the names of the fugitives, stated that the British judicial system is independent of the government.
Cleverly emphasized that the legal process in the UK, similar to that in India, operates independently from the government. He further added that while they want to see the justice system working promptly, the decisions are made by the British judicial system.
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