In extradition trial of embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London today granted him bail. The next hearing in the case against the fugitive liquor baron will be on September 12. The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crores.

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The UK court reportedly asked the Indian authorities to submit within three weeks a video of a cell at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai where they plan to keep Mallya post-extradition.

Mallya, wanted in India on fraud charges, appeared before the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London where both defence and prosecution presented clarifications on Barrack 12 at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, where Mallya is to be held post-extradition.

After hearing the arguments, Judge Emma Arbuthnot asked the Indian authorities to submit within three weeks a video of the Barrack 12 of the Arthur Road Jail, said the PTI report, adding that the Judge set the next hearing, for closing submissions, on September 12 and extended Mallya's bail until then.

A defiant Vijay Mallya said that the allegations of money laundering and stealing money against him are "completely false". He reportedly made the comments outside the Westminster Magistrates' Court where he arrived along with his son Siddharth for closing arguments in his high-profile extradition trial.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is representing the Indian authorities in the case, told PTI, "The Senior District Judge (Emma Arbuthnot) will hear final submissions. Judgment will be reserved until a future date (to be arranged)."
 
The CBI had received a boost in the case on April 27 hearing, as Judge Arbuthnot reportedly confirmed that the bulk of the evidence submitted by the Indian authorities will be admissible in the case. 
 
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had reportedly submitted a detailed set of documents to the UK court, which includes its case of conspiracy against former IDBI Bank Deputy Managing Director BK Batra, who was referred to in court as a new "villain" of sorts in the case.
 
Batra reportedly colluded with Mallya in sanctioning some of the loans to the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines without following due diligence procedures.
 
The defence team of the fugitive liquor baron, who has been on bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, is headed by barrister Clare Montgomery. 
 
Disputing the fraud allegations, Clare Montgomery submitted further written material from UK-based prisons expert Dr Alan Mitchell, challenging some of the photographs of Barrack 12 of Mumbai Central Prison on Arthur Road, where Mallya is to be held if he is extradited from the UK, said the PTI report, quoting Montgomery as, "The photographs are not a true, fair and accurate picture." 
 
The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya, who has been based in the UK since he left India in March 2016. 
 
It also seeks to prove there are no "bars to extradition" and that the tycoon is assured a fair trial in India over his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines' alleged default of over Rs 9,000 crores in loans from a consortium of Indian banks.
 
The CPS has reportedly argued that the evidence they have presented establishes "dishonesty" on the part of Mallya and that there are no bars to him being extradited from the UK to face Indian courts.

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Last month, after a prolonged period of silence, Mallya had issued a lengthy media statement, labelling the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) charges against him as "untenable and blatantly false". Mallya had said, "I have become the 'Poster Boy' of bank default and a lightning rod of public anger."