Vijay Mallya’s arrest in Britain made headlines in India. Even though his image is dented, he continues to capture the attention of Indians for all sorts of reasons, but mainly because he dared to merge a beer brand with an airline and failed miserably. The fact that he owes banks around Rs 9,000 crore is mind boggling. It’s another reason why he is still in the news. We just want him to pay up and he doesn’t want to. Another reason why an arrest makes news is because it is considered a form of interim justice as the judicial process is excruciatingly lengthy, during which time most people forget the details as well as the offense. In real terms, Mallya’s arrest was a routine one, more a matter of procedure than a call to the police station for some hard questioning. His arrest marks the beginning of a long extradition procedure which will go all the way to the Supreme Court because Mallya has the money to hire the best lawyers. Truth is, extradition is not a straight forward thing. Just because we consider him a criminal or an absconder does not automatically mean Britain will deport him. Courts there have to be satisfied that he is has committed a crime, big enough, to be kicked out of the country. In other words, the flight back home is a long way off.
