Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

 The beleaguered tycoon’s bail has been extended.

The next management hearing in the extradition case of embattled tycoon Vijay Mallya will be held on July 6, the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London said on Tuesday. His extradition hearing will be held on December 4, 2017 provisionally, the court said. Mr. Mallya’s bail was also extended.

The defence attempted to push for a later hearing, arguing that India was likely to bring a separate extradition request. But the prosecution said that without a second request, they have to deal with what was currently before them.
 
The 61-year-old former chief of erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines, who has been out on bail since his arrest in April, was present at the hearing.

Last week, Mr. Mallya was welcomed with chants of “chor, chor” by Indian cricket fans as he arrived to watch the India vs South Africa Champions Trophy match at the Oval cricket ground in London.

Mr. Mallya, who is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines’ default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore, has been in the United Kingdom since March 2016 and was arrested by the Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant on April 18.
 
H e was later released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth £650,000 and assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents.

An initial case management hearing date of May 17 was postponed to June 13.

If the District Judge rules in favour of extradition at the end of the trial, the Home Secretary must order Mr. Mallya’s extradition within two months of the appropriate day.

While no one had been extradited to India in the first 23 years of the India-U.K. Extradition Treaty of 1993, Britain last year extradited Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was wanted by India in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots, leading to hopes of the success of future extradition requests.