New Delhi: BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday warned that fugitive former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi will also be arrested very soon, minutes after absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya was arrested by the Scotland Yard in London. 


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The BJP leader also reportedly congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development. 


“Thanks and congratulations to PM Modi for this. Modi means business and he was always in a fight against corruption. It's time for Mallya to go to jail,” Swamy was quoted as saying by News18.


“This is just the beginning…. Lalit Modi could be next, " Swamy added.


Mallya, who is wanted in India for defaulting on loans worth Rs 9,000 crore, will now be produced before the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.


Mallya, who has been declared a willful absconder in India, is likely to be extradited and a team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will visit the United Kingdom soon.


Mallya has repeatedly refused to appear before courts and investigators in India since he secretly fled to Britain last March, after defaulting on loan payments to state-owned banks and allegedly misusing the funds.


His financial dealings are being investigated by the CBI and federal Enforcement Directorate.


Mallya, known for his extravagant lifestyle and who once branded himself the ‘King of Good Times, was sacked in February from the board of United Breweries, the firm through which he once controlled his business empire.


He made Kingfisher beer a global brand and ran a now-defunct airline with the same name, besides being the owner of a cricket side and a Formula One team.


More than half a dozen court warrants have already been issued against his name, and he owes banks at least Rs 9,000 crore.


In January, a court ordered a consortium of lenders to start the process of recovering the loans.


Mallya, who remains a part-owner of the Force India Formula One team, has come to personify India's problems with bad debts that are piling up on the balance sheets of banks.