UK not yet approached for extradition of Mallya, Lalit: Sushma

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi-India has not yet approached the UK for extradition of liquor baron Vijay Mallya and former IPL boss Lalit Modi, wanted by Indian investigators in multiple cases, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today, as the ED is still to provide required documents to her ministry. Swaraj said that in the case of Mallya the Enforcement Directorate(ED) had sent her Ministry the extradition request but certain changes were suggested and the probe agency was yet to respond.

With regard to Lalit Modis case, she said the ED has not sent the required documents. “When we get requests for extradition in both the cases, we will send them (to the UK),” Swaraj told a press conference. She said the previous UPA government had only sought deportation procedings against Modi and it was only NDA government which was seeking his extradition. Both Mallya and Modi are wanted by the ED in its money laundering probe and the agency has also sought a global arrest warrant against them from the Interpol.

On the controversy over Indian High Commissioner in UK Navtej Sarna attending an book launch event where Mallya was also spotted in the audience, Swaraj said the envoy was “not at fault at all.” The Minister said neither event organiser London School of Economics(LSE) nor the Indian High Commission had invited Mallya for the event where a book by socialite Suhel Seth was launched.