'Mallya's extradition to take 6 to 9 months more'

The extradition of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who owes a consortium of Indian banks over Rs 8,000 crore in unpaid loans, is likely to take six to nine months more, a CBI official said on Wednesday.

This time period was indicated to the five member, joint Enforcement Directorate-Central Bureau of Investigation team that went to London for the purpose and has returned after almost a week of discussions with British law enforcement agencies, the official said.

"The team held several rounds of meetings with the law enforcement authorities in London, including the Westminster Magistrate court officials, and were apprised that Mallya's extradition will take over six to nine months because of some legal procedures," the CBI official said.

The team had left for London on May 1 to seek extradition of Mallya who fled to Britain in March 2016 after being pursued for recovery of Rs 8,191 crore he owed to a consortium of 13 Indian banks by his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

The consortium of banks led by State Bank of India included Bank of Baroda, State Bank of Mysore, Axis Bank, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, UCO Bank and United Bank of India.

Mallya was arrested and granted bail in London last month. The next hearing of the case will be on May 17.

The Indian government had in February this year, handed over to British authorities a formal request for Mallya's extradition, saying it had a legitimate case against him on charges of financial irregularities and loan default.

--IANS

rak/vd