Scotland Yard arrested Vijay Mallya in London

The Scotland Yard on 18 April 2017 arrested Vijay Mallya in London. Mallya, who is accused of defaulting on loans worth crores, is expected to be produced in a metropolitan court soon.

Mallya was arrested as a response to India’s request to the UK Government in Februrary 2017 to extradite him in the wake of charges of money laundering and several arrest warrants pending in the country.

Previously, in June 2016, Vijay Mallya was declared as a Proclaimed Offender by a Special Court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Mumbai in a loan diversion case.

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The court issued proclamation under Section 82 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) against Vijay Mallya.

The move came after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), an investigation agency under the Union Finance Ministry, on 10 June 2016 filed a petition over a case where Mallya is suspected to have diverted a 430 crore rupees loan given by IDBI Bank Ltd to his Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.

Who is a proclaimed offender?

A person is termed as a proclaimed offender in a criminal investigation if the court believes that the accused has absconded or is concealing himself, so that the warrant cannot be executed.

According to the Section 83 of CrPC, the proclaimed offender is required to appear before the PMLA court and the investigation agency within 30 days.