New Delhi: The Indian Government has been informed that there is a “confidential legal matter” without whose resolution the extradition of embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya is not possible to India from Britain, the Ministry of External Affairs  (MEA) said on Thursday, adding that India is not a party to that matter.

The MEA also said that Mallya’s avenues for appeal against extradition have already been exhausted and that India is in touch with Britain on the issue of his extradition to India.India had in June this year said it had asked Britain “not to consider” any application from embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya for asylum, with New Delhi saying there were “no grounds for his persecution in India”.

The MEA had in June said, “After Vijay Mallya’s leave to appeal to the (British) Supreme Court, that application was rejected, we have been in touch with the UK side for his early extradition.” The MEA statement was then made in response to queries on media reports that Mallya has sought asylum in the UK on humanitarian grounds under Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).According to media reports then, Mallya was earlier this month denied permission to appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court against a British High Court order that upheld a 2018 ruling for his extradition to India to face fraud charges resulting from the collapse of his defunct company Kingfisher Airlines.

In April this year, Mallya had lost his High Court appeal in London.