The central government on Thursday said it has requested the United Kingdom to not consider fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya's asylum plea.
Last month, Mallya lost his appeals in the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to India to face money laundering and fraud charges.
"We have asked the UK not to consider Vijay Mallya's asylum plea if sent," said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava in an online press briefing. "India is in touch with the UK for his early extradition."
Last week, a spokesperson in the UK High Commission had said a "confidential" legal issue meant Mallya is unlikely to be extradited anytime soon. "We cannot estimate how long this issue will take to resolve," a spokesperson of the British government had said.
"Under United Kingdom law, extradition cannot take place until it is resolved. The issue is confidential and we cannot go into any detail. We cannot estimate how long this issue will take to resolve. We are seeking to deal with this as quickly as possible," the official had added.
On May 21, the MEA had said India was in touch with the British government over Mallya's extradition after he exhausted all legal options against New Delhi's request to the UK to extradite him.
The UK top court's decision marked a major setback to the 64-year-old businessman as it came weeks after he lost his high court appeal in April against an extradition order to India.
Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017.
The high court verdict in April upheld the 2018 ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at the end of a year-long extradition trial in December 2018 that the former Kingfisher Airlines boss had a "case to answer" in the Indian courts.
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