Vijay Mallya to appear before Westminster Court in London

London: Vijay Mallya, the fugitive liquor baron sought by India for defaulting on several bank loans amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore, will on Thursday appear before the Westminster Magistrates Court in London for the hearing in his extradition case.

The two-member Enforcement Directorate team, including a legal advisor, had visited the Britain's captal in July to submit the chargesheet against liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

Mallya fled to Britain in March 2016 after being pursued for recovery of Rs 8,191 crore owed to a consortium of 17 Indian banks by his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. He was arrested and granted bail in London on April 18 by the Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant.

He had attended a central London police station for his arrest and was released on conditional bail a after providing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds, assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents.

India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was sent back to India last October to face trial in connection with his involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002.

The Indian government had in February 2017, handed over to British authorities a formal request for Mallya's extradition, saying it had a legitimate case against him on charges of financial irregularities and loan default.