Committed to bringing back fugitives who fled India: Govt.

India on Friday, December 26, 2025, said it was determined to bring back economic fugitives, including Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya, from abroad to face the law in the country.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) claim comes days after Lalit Modi joked about his and Mallya’s status as India’s “two biggest fugitives” in a video posted on social media.

“We are two fugitives, the biggest fugitives in India,” he was heard saying.

The video of the party held in London for Mallya’s 70th birthday was later removed.

The caption shows Lalit Modi sarcastically writing: “Let’s cut the internet in India again.”

Asked about the now deleted video, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the government was fully committed to bringing back persons wanted by law in India.

“We remain fully committed to ensuring the return of illegal persons wanted by law in India to the country. We are in discussions with various governments on this particular issue,” he said at his weekly media briefing.

“The processes are continuing. There are various legal regulations in many of these cases. However, we remain determined to bring them back to the country so that they can be tried in the courts here,” he said.

Mallya, who fled to the United Kingdom in March 2016, is wanted in India over default of Rs 9,000 crore as a loan given by various banks to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA).

Lalit Modi is also wanted by Indian investigating agencies for his alleged involvement in money laundering and violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999.