UK says it will look into India's request to extradite Mallya

Britain said on Tuesday that it will look into India's request to extradite tycoon Vijay Mallya, who is accused of defaulting on loan payments worth Rs 9,000 crore to state-owned banks and allegedly misusing the funds.

The revelation came after a five-member British delegation met with Indian officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation, Ministry of External Affairs, and the Intelligence Bureau in New Delhi to discuss the modalities of the issue.

Mallya secretly fled to Britain last March and has since refused to appear before Indian courts and investigators despite repeated summons.

India had on February 9 submitted an official extradition request to Britain to face trial after investigators demanded that he return to India face charges of money laundering.The Union Home Ministry had on Monday forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs a court-issued request to bring back Mallya, who along with his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) are alleged to have defrauded IDBI Bank.

In the backdrop of India pressing Britain to extradite Mallya, the two countries on Tuesday decided to expedite the requests for extradition and mutual legal assistance pending on either side.

The External Affairs Ministry said both sides resolved to strengthen legal cooperation in pursuing the pending requests, without mentioning any specific case.

The MEA said the meeting was held pursuant to the decision taken during the visit of British Prime Minister Theresa May to India in November.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and May had then directed the officials dealing with extradition matters to meet at the earliest to develop better understanding of each country's legal processes, identify the causes of delays and expedite pending requests to ensure that fugitives and criminals cannot escape the law.