India, UK discuss prioritising extradition requests relating to fugitives

India and the United Kingdom on Monday discussed the need for expediting action under mutual legal assistance treaty and prioritisation of extradition requests relating to fugitives. A number of fugitives from India including former Kingfisher Airlines promoter Vijay Mallya, diamantaire Nirav Modi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari besides separatists from Punjab and wanted terrorist sympathisers are based in the United Kingdom and their extradition is being pursued by agencies. The issue came up for discussion during the visit of a high-level delegation from the United Kingdom that included its candidate for the post of Interpol Secretary General Stephen Kavanagh to the CBI Headquarters on Monday. During the visit, the CBI Director Praveen Sood and other senior agency officials held detailed discussions with Kavanagh about enhancing operational collaboration with the UK. Both sides discussed a host of issues including criminal intelligence sharing and combating financial crimes, ...