Vijay Mallya case: Was Arun Jaitley's UK visit the last push?

Amongst many diplomatic efforts launched by Narendra Modi government to bring back fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the most noticeable was Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's intervention during his visit to Britain in March this year. He represented India at the launch of the UK-India Year of Culture at Buckingham Palace in London.

Official sources here said that when British Prime Minister Theresa May dropped in when a meeting between Jaitley and his UK counterpart Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond was under way, the issue of "certain individuals who have overstayed" figured. This was in an apparent reference to Mallya. The issue did figure when May joined in the talks. Earlier in the same month, the government had formally requested the UK to extradite him to India to stand trial for alleged loan default and money laundering.

Sources close to Jaitley said, he told his UK counterparts that Indian government has taken the issue of defaulters very seriously. "As far as the government of India is concerned, we take this issue of defaults against the financial system in India very seriously. We have already sent a strong signal that if [you] dupe the exchequer or dupe the banking system, the government of India will lend its full support to all financial institutions to recover up to their last pie," Jaitley was quoted by media, ahead of his meeting with his UK interlocutors.

He said Indian investigating agencies are utilising every provision of the law available to them to recover amounts and attach assets in India to "get these people back and held responsible as per law".