Modi seeks UK PM's help in return of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya

Hamburg: Prime Minister Narendra Modi todaypressed upon his British counterpart Theresa May to ensure UK's cooperation to bring back economic offenders, amidst India working hard for the return of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya and former IPL chief Lalit Modi.

Mallya has been in the UK for months, escaping arrest warrants against him, while a court in London is also hearing a case regarding his return to India.

Modi today met May during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here and sought UK's help in this regard. Both leaders also talked about the complete range of India-UK ties.

In a tweet after the meeting, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the Prime Minister asked for UK's "cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic offenders". On economic offenders issue, Baglay said, "you have seen our tweet".

On whether cooperation from the UK was sought with just Mallya in mind, he said, "The tweet mentions economic offenders who have escaped from India and that is the answer".

To a query on whether was Mallya in focus in terms of escaped economic offenders discussed with May, Baglay said, "We have put out a tweet and the term used there is a plural... it's English language and people who know English should understand it".

Asked whether all on the list were discussed and no specific names were mentioned, he said, "I won't like to go into that and what we have said in the tweet is what our position is".

Baglay refused to comment directly on any question related to Mallya. Mallya, who is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines' default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore, has been in the UK since March 2016.

In April, he had attended a central London police station for his arrest and was released on conditional bail a few hours later after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds, assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents.

Lalit Modi, former chief of Indian Premier League (IPL), is wanted by the Indian authorities with respect to a money laundering probe and he is said to be in the UK.

The former cricket administrator has maintained that he has not done any wrong in any of the IPL deals.

The Enforcement Directorate had registered a money laundering case against Lalit Modi and others based on a Chennai police complaint in 2012 on charges of alleged cheating of BCCI-IPL in granting overseas telecast rights of the T-20 cricket tournament in 2009.

India and the UK have an extradition treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement -??Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel,?who was sent back to India last October to face trial in connection with his involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002.

"Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @theresa_may met and held talks on the complete range of India-UK ties," India's PMO said in a tweet.

On Modi's meeting with May, Baglay said the two leaders broadly spoke about bilateral relationships and the current context after the elections that took place post the Brexit vote.

There was also conversation on cooperation within the common wealth and how to make that process more integrated, he added.

According to Baglay, terrorism also came into discussions because the UK and several European cities have suffered terror attacks. The prime minister offered his condolences, sympathy and the support to combat this global menace.

The two leaders took an overview of the bilateral ties and discussed what more can be done to improve this old and good relationship and how to take it forward in the current scenario after the British elections. On whether Khalistan issue was mentioned in meeting with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Baglay said the issues of common concerns were discussed and extremism and terrorism is a problem that affects not only India but all countries in the world.

No country unfortunately is untouched. There were a number of issues which were discussed, he added. About Modi's bilateral meeting with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and whether South China Sea and China's aggression were part of the agenda, Baglay said, "The meeting with Japanese prime minister focussed on reviewing the outcomes and the implementation of outcomes that were arrived during the prime ministers' last annual summit in November last year".

On whether South China Sea was also discussed, he said these meetings are brief meetings and are basically to touch base on some priority issues.