Vijay Mallya issue: Congress saw more people fleeing India under its rule

Congress leaders, including its vice-president Rahul Gandhi, have been targetting the NDA government over Vijay Mallya's 'Art of Leaving' but it hasn't cared to answer why Mallya was treated softly even after the Kingfisher loan had become a non-performing asset in 2012, when its own government was in power at the Centre.

Neither the UPA I or II stopped the state-run banks from undertaking the risk of lending to a loss-making airline and its promoter who remained in the headlines mostly for wrong reasons.

Rahul Gandhi did not notice where the Mallya story was heading all this time and spoke up only after the crisis has snowballed and the man himself is no more in the country. Moreover, there is very little reason to feel convinced about the Congress's role for in the past, the country has seen a number of individuals fleeing India after facing charges and it was Congress which was in power in each of those cases.

Here is a look at the past.

Warren Anderson left India after Bhopal gas tragedy

In 1984, in the wake of the gas leak in Bhopal that killed thousands besides leaving several others crippled, the then CEO of Union Carbide----Warren Anderson-----managed to flee India despite getting arrested for a few hours after coming to India. Anderson, who died in the US last year, never returned to face trial and it is suspected the then Congress government of Rajiv Gandhi acted under pressure from the US to grant him a safe passage. The state of Madhya Pradesh was also under the Congress's rule then.

Bofors-related Ottavio Quattrocchi couldn't be brought back

In 1993, Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who allegedly was involved in the Rs 64-crore Bofors scam that grounded the Rajiv Gandhi government, escaped from India. It was again the Congress which was in power in then, under the leadership of PV Narasimha Rao. The party said it took all spossible steps to bring the man back but the extradition of an individual depends on extradition treaty between the two countries.

Attempts were made to bring Quattrocchi after the BJP-led NDA came to power in 1999 but they were not successful. He could not be brought back from either Malaysia in 2003 and Argentina in 2007. The man died in 2013.

Italian sailors defied India law, never came back

In 2012, two Italian sailors Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone who were accused of killing two Kerala fishermen also escaped from Indian law. In Feb 2013, the Supreme Court permitted the duo to visit their country to vote in elections and then Italy refused to return them to India.

The apex court took a serious view of Italy's breach of undertaking and stopped Ambassador Daniele Mancini from leaving the country without its permission. In March 2013, Mancini claimed complete immunity under the Vienna Convention which was turned down by the Supreme Court.

On March 21, the Italian government said it would return the two accused marines to India but they refused to appear as witness in the murder case in August that year. In September, Italy refused to send witnesses, citing delay in the trial. In March 2014, Italy rejected the marines' trial in India.

The UPA II government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faced flak from the Opposition over this issue. But the situation didn't improve even in the era of Narendra Modi as Senator Nicola Latorre, head of the Italian Senate's defence committee, said Latorre will not come back to India in January this year.

Lalit Modi, an Indian, also fled the country

Also in 2012, Lalit Modi, a cricket administrator and former IPL commissioner, was accused of cheating the BCCI in granting overseas rights for telecasting the 2009 edition of the IPL. But before the law could move its arm, Modi went to the UK claiming threat to his life and never returned to India. India recently approached the Interpol seeking a Red Corner Notice (RCN) sought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Modi. A special court in Mumbai had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the former IPL chairman in the same case and a request for extradition was granted on the basis of which the ED sought an Interpol RCN.

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