Vijay Mallya, who was arrested today in London by Scotland Yard has already been granted a bail.
The 61-year-old liquor baron was arrested at about 9.30 am London local time and was taken to Westminster’s Magistrates’ Court in London where he was granted a conditional bail.
“It was a voluntary action. He will be out in a few minutes,” said a member of Mallya’s team at the court, without giving any further details of the bail conditions.
Downplaying news of his arrest, Mallya hit out at Indian media in a tweet
Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected.
— Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) April 18, 2017
But London Police had already issued a statement saying that he had been arrested
Extradition warrant arrest on behalf of Indian authorities https://t.co/cXET0Q13q5 pic.twitter.com/s90THSa0nD
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 18, 2017
Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016.
He has repeatedly dismissed the charges against him. In January, an Indian court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans.
Senior Indian officials described his arrest as the first salvo in the case, which will now involve a legal process in the UK to determine if Mallya can be extradited to India to face charges in Indian courts.