Unhygienic space, no fresh air and no guarantee of a fair trial in India were the principal pleas delaying the extradition of the 62-year-old Kingfisher boss Vijay Mallya.
These points also influenced Judge Emma Arbuthnot of Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London who sought clear evidence about the condition prevailing at Barrack 12 of Mumbai Central Prison.
Leave aside facilities like private western-style toilet facility and clean bedding in the prison where the businessman is to be held if he is to be extradited. His defence team submitted the written material challenging some of the photographs of Mumbai’s Arthur Road Barrack 12.
The team has also produced expert witnesses to claim he is unlikely to get a fair trial in India. Although the Indian government assured the international community of the prison’s upkeep in accordance with the Human Rights guidelines, yet the English court was not convinced.
Contradicting money-laundering charges and fraud, the businessman had made his abode at a spacious bungalow in England. He had left India back in March 2016 when banks accelerated their frenetic efforts to retrieve unpaid loans amounting to Rs 9000 crore.