Say what you will about Vijay Mallya, he certainly has style.
After reports broke that he’d been arrested by Scotland Yard, and was currently in jail, Mallya surprised everyone by sending out a new tweet on Twitter.
Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected.
— Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) April 18, 2017
Mallya says that the media reports of his arrest are exaggerated. While he certainly had attended the court today on an extradition hearing, he hadn’t been arrested. “Usual media hype,” Mallya tweeted disdainfully. He also implied that he was in the know of his impending court hearing, and hadn’t been suddenly arrested as was reported.
While Mallya is certainly not under arrest right now, and is free to use Twitter, the extradition hearing should encourage people who’ve been awaiting his return. Proceedings for his extradition have now officially begun, and could ultimately lead to his movement to India.
But for now, Mallya is a free man. He’s presumably back to his country house where he’s been lodged since May 2016, and is back to tweeting. This latest incident shows that getting Mallya back won’t be as easy as was hoped — the UK has no extradition treaty with India, and while the Indian courts have a non-bailable warrant out against him, getting him back to India isn’t going to be easy. Even if Mallya is found guilty by these courts, he’ll have chances to appeal the decision, before he’s finally sent over. Mallya became a billionaire businessman thanks to his sagacity and his skills – he’s now using all of them to stay out of prison.