London: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been arrested by police in London, and will be produced in the metropolitan court.
Scotland Yard said that Mallya has been declared a proclaimed offender, and arrested on an extradition warrant.
India had requested the UK for the extradition of Mallya, who is accused of defaulting on bank loans worth 9,000 crores and facing charges of money laundering.
The business magnate left India for UK last year amid attempts by banks to recover the loans on which he has defaulted.
India cancelled Mallya’s passport, but his extradition was refused by the UK because under the country’s laws, visitors could stay in the country even if their passports had expired.
Mallya, who launched Kingfisher Airlines which now owes Rs 9,000 crores to banks, has been charged with cheating and conspiracy by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed a 1000-page charge-sheet against him. The charge-sheet covered one specific case of loan default – a Rs 900 crore loan given to Mallya by IDBI.
The CBI had found that Rs 250 crore of the Rs 900 crore, which was granted to buy aircraft parts, was instead diverted abroad.