Do not consider Vijay Mallya\'s asylum application: India urges UK

New Delhi: India on Thursday said it has asked Britain “not to consider” any application from embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya for asylum, with New Delhi saying there are “no grounds for his persecution in India”.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said, “After Vijay Mallya’s leave to appeal to the (British) Supreme Court, that application was rejected, we have been in touch with the UK side for his early extradition. And we have also requested the UK side not to consider his asylum if requested by him because there appear to be no grounds for his persecution in India.”

The MEA statement was made in response to queries on media reports that Mallya has sought asylum in the UK on humanitarian grounds under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). According to media reports, Mallya's latest move is likely to mean his extradition to India may not happen anytime soon.

A British High Commission spokesperson had recently said, “Vijay Mallya last month lost his appeal against extradition, and was refused leave to appeal further to the UK Supreme Court. However, there is a further legal issue that needs resolving before Mallya’s extradition can be arranged. Under United Kingdom law, extradition cannot take place until it is resolved. The issue is confidential and we cannot go into any detail. We cannot estimate how long this issue will take to resolve. We are seeking to deal with this as quickly as possible.”

According to recent media reports, Mallya was earlier this month denied permission to appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court against a British High Court order that upheld a 2018 ruling for his extradition to India to face fraud charges resulting from the collapse of his defunct company Kingfisher Airlines. In April this year, Mallya had lost his High Court appeal in London.