In Hamburg, Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @theresa_may met and held talks on the complete range of India-UK tie… https://t.co/qliF7YvvLQ — PMO India (@PMOIndia) 1499513523000

Modi raises issue of economic offenders with UK

HAMBURG/NEW DELHI: As the government seeks to ensure the return of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya , Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday took up the issue with his UK counterpart Theresa May saying that India needed cooperation from UK to bring back not just Mallya but other economic offenders as well.The government had said last month that even though it had submitted all documents to UK authorities for extradition of Mallya, it wasn't going to be easy to bring him back and that no time-frame could be fixed for his return. UK has said that it is currently examining these documents.Mallya has been in the UK for months, escaping arrest warrants against him, while a court in London is also hearing a case regarding his return to India.Modi on Saturday met May during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here and sought UK's help in this regard.In a tweet after the meeting, external affairs ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the Prime Minister asked for UK's "cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic offenders ".Mallya, who is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines' default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore, has been in the UK since March 2016.In April, he had attended a central London police station for his arrest and was released on conditional bail a few hours later 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."Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @theresa_may met and held talks on the complete range of India-UK ties," India's PMO said in a tweet.