Modi faces battle to extradite beer baron Mallya from UK

New Delhi

IF history is any guide, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a long battle in convincing the UK to send back ex-billionaire beer baron Vijay Mallya to face accusations of money laundering and failing to repay more than US$1 billion in debt.

The UK hasn't extradited anyone to the South Asian nation in at least 14 years, according to data from India's Foreign Ministry, which doesn't publish records on such cases prior to 2002. India has as many as 131 extradition requests pending with the UK, the Home Ministry said in February.

Mr Mallya, 60, has become the public face of India's efforts to crack down on defaulters as authorities look to clean up 8 trillion rupees (S$163 billion) of stres…