Mallya's Comment on Meeting Jaitley Comes After Rahul's Visit to London, Says BJP

New Delhi: A day after Vijay Mallya, during the oral submissions in the extradition hearing in London, revealed that he had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament before he left the country in March 2016, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hinted that the statement comes after Congress president Rahul Gandhi's recent visit to England.

"Did anyone notice that all these new allegations by Mallya are coming after Rahul Gandhi's visit to London? Is there a connection? You (media) should look into it," Prasad said.

In August, Rahul Gandhi went on his first official visit to the UK where he interacted with with students, met the MPs and attended a diaspora gathering.

"I left India because I had a scheduled meeting in Geneva. Before leaving I met the finance minister and offered to settle (the issue with the banks)," Mallya said, without naming the minister.

Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister in 2016 when Mallya left India.

Mallya's claims invited a sharp reaction from Jaitley, who said the statement is "false". In a Facebook blog post, Jaitley wrote: "My attention has been drawn to a statement made to the media by Vijay Mallaya on having met me with an offer of settlement. The statement is factually false in as much as it does not reflect truth (sic)."

The Congress has demanded that the government reveal the details of Mallya's meetings with Jaitley. In a late night tweet on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi sought the finance minister's resignation and a thorough probe.

The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airline boss, who has been on bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crore.

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.

Mallya's defence team has deposed a series of expert witnesses to claim he had no "fraudulent" intentions and that he is unlikely to get a fair trial in India.