File image | Photo Credit: Indiatimes, Representative Image

Mumbai: The British ruled India for about 200 years and 70 years after they left for London, post emptying our treasury thoroughly, we Indians are faced with a strange predicament.

India is again being looted, except, this time, her alleged looters are not the sahibs and memsahibs of the Raj but her very own sons of the soil! And guess where they're all fleeing to? Yes, London!

It appears that while history does repeat itself, it doesn't always do so in the same way.

When Kingfishers take flight

Vijay Mallya, 'The King of Good Times', whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2, 2016.

On February 2017, a five-member British delegation met officials from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to discuss the modalities involved in the case to extradite Vijay Mallya. The meeting also discussed the jail term for Mallya if found guilty.

The British Government certified India’s request for the extradition of Vijay Mallya in March and on April 18, 2017, Mallya was arrested.

However, he was then released on conditional bail and last we checked, he was named Indian representative to world motorsport body.

The Indian government is seeking to extradite Mallya and try him for fraud. He has said there is a "witch hunt" against him, arguing that there were much bigger defaulters.

C for Chidambaram, C for con job

On May 16, 17 locations of P. Chidambaram's offices and residences were raided by the CBI, and the details of the FIR filed by India's leading investigative agency have now emerged which points towards a serious case of money laundering by Chidambaram's son, Karti Chidambaram.

Long story short, INX Media, owned by the infamous Peter and Indrani Mukerjea violated a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance, raising Rs 305 crore when they only had permission to raise Rs 4.62 crore.

When questions were asked about the finances raised, the owners of INX media employed Karti Chidambaram and his company Chess Management Service Ltd to advise them. Chidambaram advised INX Media on how to go about the FIPB clearance and a fresh application was filed by INX Media.

What this essentially means is that while P.Chidambaram was Finance Minister in 2007, his son's company advised INX Media on how to go about their FIPB clearances, and no questions were raised about how the money was raised without the necessary approvals.

After the IT raids, Karti Chidambaram left for London.

However, P Chidambaram has described his son's visit to London as a "scheduled trip."

"Karti is traveling as per earlier travel plans. He will return after a few days. There is no ban on his travel," he said.

The Defense Deal Defaulter

Sanjay Bhandari, the politically connected defense dealer has been facing the heat from official agencies ever since his name surfaced in the context of UPA era defence deals.

After the IT department recovered confidential documents regarding defence deals from his premises in April 2016, the Delhi Police had charged him under Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act in October 2016.

During the searches carried out by the Income Tax Department, papers of the Defence Ministry, including those related to a much-delayed proposal to buy mid-air refuellers, were allegedly recovered from his premises.

An FIR was registered in October on a complaint by a senior Defence Ministry official that the documents and copies of classified papers recovered during the raid were violative of the Official Secrets Act.

Bhandari, investigators suspect, is involved in Indian Air Force’s basic trainer aircraft purchase for which a deal worth around 4,000 crores was signed during the previous UPA regime in 2012, according to The New Indian Express.

Howzzat for a scam?

Recently, Times Now accessed seven letters hinting that someone is allegedly trying to shield Lalit Modi who fled to London in 2010.

He has constantly refused to return to India, stating that there is a threat to his life.

Lalit Modi, who is currently the president of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), is in London and facing alleged money laundering charges during his tenure as IPL chairman and faces probe in 15 FEMA-related cases that are being probed in India.

His son, Ruchir Modi, also called all the charges false.

“All charges against my father are bull****, said Ruchir. “No Indian agency has been able to provide any evidence to prove the allegation so far. He has responded to every Indian agency and there is no proof to prove the charges,” said Ruchir.

In February 2017, INTERPOL had refused to issue a red corner notice against Modi, stating he shall not be held subject to a red notice or diffusion and “is not known in INTERPOL’s database.”

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the case against Modi in connection with a 2008 deal between World Sports Group (WSG) and Multi Screen Media (MSM) for television rights worth Rs 425 crore for the Indian Premier League season, amongst other things.