Vijay Mallya, Who Fled India In 2016, Arrested In London By Scotland Yard

 Vijay Mallya, accused of defaulting on loans worth crores, was arrested in London today in what the CBI counted as a major win in attempts to bring the business tycoon to India to face trial. Mr Mallya, 61, is wanted for loan fraud and is also facing charges of money-laundering.

"Vijay Mallya was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities in relation to accusations of fraud. He was arrested after attending a central London police station..." Scotland Yard said in a statement.

He will be produced in a metropolitan court as the first step in what could be a long legal battle to prove New Delhi's case for extradition.

India had requested the UK in February to extradite the flamboyant entrepreneur, who left India a year ago amid attempts by a group of banks to recover around Rs. 9,000 crore in loans to his collapsed Kingfisher Airlines.

The arrest comes weeks after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's visit to the UK, where he is believed to have raised that a certain "fugitive" was overstaying



in London. British Prime Minister Theresa May had dropped in on a meeting between Mr Jaitley and his UK counterpart when the subject was raised, the Press Trust of India quoted sources as saying.

Earlier, when New Delhi cancelled Mr Mallya's passport and asked the UK government to deport him, British officials said he could legally stay on in London as he had a UK visa.

But last month, the UK told India that its request had been certified by the Secretary of State.

Mr Mallya has been charged with cheating and conspiracy by the CBI that filed a 1,000-page chargesheet against him for defaulting on a 900 crore loan taken from the IDBI bank in 2009. The CBI probe found that 250 crore of this - given to buy aircraft parts - was diverted abroad.

Amid multiple attempts to extradite him, Mr Mallya was seen at events in the UK linked to his formula one team Sahara Force India.

In a series of tweets recently, he accused the government of holding him guilty "without a trial".