Vijay Mallya arrested by UK police

Vijay Mallya, the absconding Indian liquor tycoon, has been arrested in the United Kingdom, as New Delhi seeks his extradition back to India stand charges of fraud in relationship to the collapse of his ill-fated Kingfisher Airlines.

The collapse of the air carrier has left an estimated $1.3bn in unpaid debt to state banks, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has put a premium on trying to bring him back to the country to hold him to account.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said that Mr Mallya was arrested on “an extradition warrant.”

He was arrested after attending a central London police station and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later this afternoon.

Mr Mallya, whose became a reviled figure following the collapse of his airline, decamped to the UK last year, after India’s state-owned banks raised the pressure on him to repay his debts, amid a public outcry over his high-flying lifestyle.

The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation filed formal fraud charges against him earlier this year.