Vijay Mallya arrested in London in money laundering case, gets bail

NEW DELHI: Absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya+ , who is wanted in connection to a loan default case to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore, was arrested in London on Tuesday.

The fugitive businessman has been arrested in a second money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. However, he was granted bail shortly after being produced before the Westminster Magistrates' Court for a hearing.

Once knows as the "King of Good Times", Mallya protested his innocence and described the allegations against him as "fabricated".

"I deny all allegations that have been made and I will continue to deny them. I have not eluded any court. I've given enough evidence to prove my case," he said outside the court earlier in the day.

Chief Magistrate Emma Louise Arbuthnot, who has been hearing Mallya 's extradition case at Westminster Magistrates' Court, granted him bail on "the same bail conditions as before", which he must abide by. The next hearing in the case will take place on November 20.

Mallya owes as much as Rs 9,000 crore to Indian banks. He has been out on bail after Scotland Yard arrested him on April 18 this year, acting on India's formal extradition request for him. The 61-year-old chief of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines fled India last year in March and has been living in Britain since then.

The CBI and the ED had recently uncovered that 'Mallya diverted most of Rs 6,000-crore loan to shell companies'+ , taken from a consortium of 17 banks led by SBI, to several countries including US, UK, France and Ireland.

Both the agencies are now planning to file chargesheets against him and present it as evidence in the Westminster Magistrates' Court, so that his extradition could be expedited.

India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as per the Extradition Treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale on February 8 and had asserted that it has a "legitimate" case against him.