Vijay Mallya Extradition : Supreme Court Asks Centre To File Status Report In 6 Weeks

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Union Government to file a status report in six weeks on the progress of extradition process pending in the United Kingdom with respect to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya .

A bench of Justices Lalit & Ashok Bhushan further adjourned sentence hearing on contempt case against Mallya to the third week of January 2021.

On August 31, the Supreme Court had directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to facilitate and ensure the presence of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya before it on 5th October, for hearing on sentence in the 2017 contempt case against him.

Later, on October 5, the Centre told the Supreme Court that "secret" extradition process was going on to bring fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to the country but it was not aware about its status.

The Centre also told the top court that it was not a party to the proceedings.

A bench of Justices U U Lalit and Ashok Bhushan asked Mallya's lawyer to inform the court what kind of "secret" proceedings are going on to extradite him.

Advocate Ankur Saigal, appearing for Mallya, had told the apex court that he was not aware what kind of proceedings are going on.

He had said, "I have knowledge that my request against extradition has been rejected".

The bench had also directed Mallya's lawyers to apprise it by November 2 when can the fugitive businessman appear before the court and when the "secret" proceedings are going to end.

Advocate Rajat Nair, appearing for the Centre, had told the court that extradition request has been made as per the direction of the court.

Mallya, who is presently facing extradition proceedings in the UK, was held guilty of contempt of court vide order dated May 9, 2017, for transferring money to his children in violation of the Court's order.

On August 31, the top court had dismissed the review petition filed by Mallya in 2017 against the contempt verdict. Before that, the bench had sought for a written explanation from the Registry for not listing the review petition for over three years.

Mallya left India on March 2, 2016 in the wake of cases registered by the ED as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation, for alleged fraud and money laundering amounting to an estimated Rs 9,000 crore.