Indian businessman Vijay Mallya arrested in London

Vijay Mallya, an Indian business tycoon who fled the country after defaulting bank loans worth billions of USA dollars, was arrested in London, local media reports said Tuesday.

His India passport was revoked in April 2015 and the Indian government started seeking his extradition from the United Kingdom in May 2015, noted the BBC News.

A formal extradition request was initially made on February 8 and authorities in India stated that they had a "legitimate case" against Mallya.

Fugitive industrialist Vijay Mallya was granted bail after being taken into custody today by the Metropolitan Police's Extradition Unit at a central London police station.

Soon after getting bail from the Westminster Magistrates" court, Mallya took a swing at the media accusing them of "hyping' the development.

He has previously disputed accusations that he fled India to avoid bad debts, saying on Twitter that he travels "to and from India frequently".

"He is detained for an hour and he is granted bail".

The Narendra Modi government wants Mallya, who owes some Rs9,000 crore to a bunch of Indian banks, extradited. Last year, Mallya stepped down as director of the Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL), which ran the Royal Challengers franchise. He has been bailed on security of £650,000, according to the BBC, while a case management hearing as been scheduled for 17 May.

The businessman has repeatedly denied charges of wrongdoing, and calls the collapse of his airline a genuine commercial failure.

A statement by Vijay Mallya's lawyer in London said: "Extradition proceedings against Vijay Mallya in my view are entirely ill conceived and will fail". Mallya is accused of loan fraud and money laundering.

His arrest came a year after he quietly left the country and went to live in London after state-owned banks sued him to recover loans amounting to $1.4 billion.

Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel was extradited in October 2016 in a case related to the 2002 Gujarat riots.