Vijay Mallya arrested in London: Here's timeline of liquor baron's debacle

New Delhi: Absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya was arrested in London on Tuesday and is likely to be extradited to India soon.

British authorities have informed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about the arrest. Mallya was arrested at 9.30 am --London time.

Here is the timeline:

1) Kingfisher Airlines, established in 2005, was a major business venture launched by Mallya.It eventually became insolvent and had to be closed down.As of October 2013, it had not paid salaries to its employees for 15 months, had lost its licence to operate as an airline, and owed more than US$1 billion in bank loans. By November 2015 the amount owed to the banks had grown to at least $1.35 billion, and there were other debts owed for taxes and to numerous small creditors.As part of the Kingfisher collapse, Mallya is accused of being a "willful defaulter" under Indian law, including accusations of money laundering, misappropriation, etc.

2) In March 2016, a consortium of banks approached the Supreme Court of India to stop Mallya from going abroad due to the pending money his companies owed them. As per media reports, he had already left India. On 13 March 2016 a court in Hyderabad issued a non-bailable warrant for Mallya's arrest, but it appears he is remaining at his country estate near London, England, while his lawyer contests the warrant with a higher court.

3) On 18 April 2016, a special court in Mumbai also issued an undated non-bailable Arrest warrant against the businessman. This was issued in response to a plea by the Enforcement Directorate on 15 April before the special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.There were allegations on him that he transferred ₹4,000 crore (US$590 million) to tax havens.

4) On 11 June 2016, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reported it had "provisionally attached" ₹1,411 crore (US$210 million) rupees worth of Mallya's Indian assets and properties against unpaid loans totalling ₹807 crore (US$120 million). On 3 September, it issued a second attachment order for a further ₹6,630 crore (US$990 million) worth of Mallya's assets, including a farmhouse, shares in United Breweries and multiple flats in Bengaluru valued at ₹565 crore (US$84 million). By December 2016, the ED has attached a total of Rs 9661 crore worth of assets of Mallya and Kingfisher in India. This is one of the largest attachment of assets made by the ED in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act case till now. The ED also decided to send letters rogatory (LR) to the US, the UK and Europe requesting them to assist it in attachment of Mallya's over ten foreign assets.

5) Mallya was arrested in London on 18th April, 2017 by Scotland Yard.