Cracking the Mallya case: Here is how diplomacy worked behind the scenes

The arrest of liquor baron, Vijay Mallya is a huge diplomatic success for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PM and his government were criticised for not taking enough action in stopping Mallya from leaving the country last year. However aggressive back-channel talks and thorough investigations.

The first round met with some hiccups with the United Kingdom informing India that an extradition request may not be the best way to go about it. UK suggested that India adopts the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. Moreover investigations at that time were premature and India had to show more evidence to the UK to facilitate an arrest. India had initially asked the UK to deport Mallya. However that was ruled out since he entered the UK on a valid passport.

Moving the courts:

In a bid to justify the extradition request, the Enforcement Directorate as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation moved several courts. After lengthy arguments, at least two courts issued non-bailable warrants against Mallya. This helped strengthen the case to make an extradition bid.

The investigations were a crucial aspect in this case. The CBI and the ED went through voluminous documents and files while coordinating with the banks from where Mallya had taken loans that he had defaulted on.

Diplomatic pressure:

India had kept up the pressure diplomatically in this case. The government indulged in back-channel talks with the UK government. Both on the diplomatic and legal front the issue was taken up from time to time. It did not look easy at all at first, but the evidence that was shared apart from the diplomatic pressure ensured that this process against Mallya commenced.

The issue was raised once again by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with the authorities in the UK. During his February visit, he had appealed to the British Prime Minister Theresa May to speed up the issue. May took up the issue with the authorities concerned following which India's request was heeded to.

OneIndia News