Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi fled the country as probe agencies failed to arrest: Special Court

(From Left) Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi (Representative Image)

Mumbai special court said businessmen engaged in multi-million dollar frauds like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, and Vijay Mallya were able to flee the country because investigation agencies failed to arrest them at the proper time. Special judge MG Deshpande's remark comes while hearing a plea of an accused booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) when he asked for a modification in his bail condition, reported PTI.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had argued that allowing Shah's application would give rise to situations like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi.

Per the PTI report, rejecting the probe agency's contention, the judge said, "I thoughtfully examined this argument and felt it necessary to note that all these persons fled because of the failure of the investigating agencies concerned in not arresting them at the proper time."

However, on May 29, the court accepted the plea of Vyomesh Shah, an accused in a money laundering case, to drop the bail condition of getting the court's prior permission to travel abroad.

The detailed order was made available recently.

According to PTI, the special judge said, Shah had appeared before the court responding to the summons, secured bail, and applied many times to travel abroad. Shah's case cannot be equated with the likes of Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi etc, the court held.

Diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are prime accused in the multi-crore PNB scam. While his uncle lives in Antigua, Modi is currently serving a prison sentence in the UK, the PTI report stated.

Vijay Mallya, accused in the over 900-crore alleged loan fraud case, being probed by the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is currently in UK.

Vijay Mallya's recent tweet about Virat Kohli created a buzz around the nation. Mallya, who currently lives in the United Kingdom and is trying to avoid extradition to India, posted on his 'X', "When I bid for the RCB franchise and I bid for Virat, my inner instinct told me that I could not have made better choices," amid IPL 2024.

Sources of the news agency PTI told them that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought up the issue of the extradition of fugitives Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi in every India-UK trade-related meeting.

Time and again, the delegations from the UK that have come to India have faced Indian pressure to extradite Mallya and Nirav Modi, the report further stated quoting its sources.