London court to hear Mallya’s case today

The next hearing in the extradition case of Indian businessman Vijay Mallya in the Westminster Magistrates Court here is scheduled for Tuesday, when the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will argue the matter on behalf of Indian government.

Mallya, wanted in India for financial offences, was arrested and bailed during a “preliminary hearing” on April 18 as part of stage five of the seven-stage extradition process. The next stage is the “extradition hearing” on Tuesday.

A team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate was in London recently for talks with CPS lawyers, who were provided necessary documents to substantiate the case for extradition.

A CPS official told HT: “I can confirm that our lawyers met with officials from the CBI to discuss the (Mallya) case.”

Informed sources said more care was being taken in Mallya’s case because earlier extradition requests from India had failed mainly due to poor paperwork and the quality of evidence that did not hold up in British courts.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the judge will have to be satisfied that Mallya’s conduct “amounts to an extradition offence (dual criminality), none of the bars to extradition apply, where applicable, there is prima facie evidence of guilt (in accusation cases), and whether extradition would breach the person’s human rights”, according to the rules.