India pushes UK for faster extraditions

India has pushed the UK to expedite the extradition of former liquor baron Vijay Mallya, diamantaire Nirav Modi, arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, and others wanted for major financial crimes, with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director, Praveen Sood, on a visit to that country last week, asking British minister of security, Dan Jarvis, to ensure this, people familiar with the matter said.e)..

Sood is learnt to have conveyed to Jarvis that since UK courts have already cleared the extraditions of Mallya, Modi and Bhandari, they need to be sent to India so that they can be prosecuted..

The CBI chief urged the UK minister to expedite extraditions of around two dozen fugitives wanted by India including big three (Mallya, Modi and Bhandari) as they are involved in financial frauds involving public funds and need to face Indian courts, said an officer at the agency familiar with the matter who asked not to be named..

During the meeting, Jarvis sought Indias help in dealing with large number of cyber frauds being committed on British citizens by Indian nationals, who are operating from some southeast Asian countries and with cases of online child sexual abuse, said a second officer familiar with the meeting..

Some of the fugitives repatriated from foreign countries in last three years include Subhash Shankar Parab (a close confidante of diamantaire Nirav Modi, who was deported from Cairo in April last year), Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia (the alleged main conspirator behind the December 2021 Ludhiana court bomb blast; brought back from Kuala Lumpur) and Bikramjit Singh alias Bikkar Panjwar (a pro-Khalistan operative who was behind 2019 Tarn Taran bomb blast in Punjab and was brought back from Vienna in December 2022)..

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