London / New Delhi: The Vijay Mallya was arrested in London on Tuesday before being released on bail by a Westminster Magistrates’ Court in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate in London.
The Vijay Mallya 61-year-old businessman, who had already been on bail on accreditation warrants executed by the Metropolitan Police in 2017, had been released on the same bail condition as previous to appear before the trial court on 4th December.
While addressing the PTI outside the courtroom, Mallya said that he “did not do anything wrong” and described the allegations against him as “fabricated”. I deny all those allegations which have been done and I will deny it, he further added that I have not been able to proceed from any court. If I am fit to be here, I am happy here,” he said, “I have provided enough evidence to prove my case.”
The Judge, Chief Magistrate Emma Louise Arbuthnot said that Mallya has been “freed of the conditions of the same Bail, which he should obey them.
Earlier, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is debating the case against Mallya on behalf of the Indian government, had confirmed the arrest.
The CPS spokesman said, “Vijay Mallya has been arrested with allegations of money laundering and today he will be present in court.”
New Delhi sources said that the accused arrested were following of extradition request made by the Indian government on the basis of allegations of money laundering against Mallya.
The case is under investigation by the ED and the Central Investigation Agency has already filed a charge sheet against him and others in the Mumbai court.
In April, at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, hearing the extradition case of Mallya on his previous arrest warrant executed by Scotland Yard.
On April 18, he was arrested by the Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant from Indian authorities.
Since his arrest, he attended in a central London Police Station, and after a few hours, a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds, was released on conditional bail, in which the court assured all the circumstances related to extradition proceedings. It was the surrender of his passport and the restriction on keeping any travel documents. In that case, Mallya’s hearing is scheduled for two weeks, starting on December 4.
Since the exit of India in March, the UK-based businessmen in the UK want to default on a loan of about Rs 9,000 crore for their predecessor Kingfisher Airlines.
It is left to see that if both cases will be linked together, which may delay the trial date.
