Not James Bond movie, warrant doesn’t mean Adani will be arrested: Advocate

Amid the row over the US indicting Gautam Adani in a bribery case, a senior advocate said just because there is an arrest warrant in America, it doesn’t mean that the industrialist would be arrested. In an exclusive interview with India Today, senior advocate Vijay Aggarwal asserted that an indictment doesn’t mean that the accused is guilty.
“Just because there is an arrest warrant, it doesn’t mean he (Adani) will be arrested, and the warrant will be executed in India. It never happens like that. It is not a James Bond movie,” Aggarwal said.
US prosecutors in New York have indicted Gautam Adani, his nephew, and six others, for orchestrating a scheme to pay Rs 2,029 crore (USD 265 million) in bribes to Indian government officials for securing power supply contracts in India.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for Adani and his nephew. Prosecutors plan to hand over the warrants to foreign law enforcement. India Today exclusively accessed the details of the arrest warrant, which was unsealed on October 31, 2024.
Aggarwal said the issuance of the arrest warrant won’t have any repercussions in India. “It is not arrest in the true sense of the word, but it is for providing documents. In Indian law also, when an anticipatory bail is granted, the person is considered to be under some technical arrest,” he said.
Aggarwal said both countries had an extradition treaty and the US authorities could request India for extradition proceedings to be initiated. “There won’t be any immediate arrest. The US government may request India for extradition,” he said.
However, for extradition to take place, the alleged crime must be considered illegal in both the US and India.
“In the past, we have seen several such bribery charges, such as the Walmart case, Honeywell case in 2022, and the Oracle case. When the 2G case happened in India, I said it would be good for a coffee table book,” the advocate said.