Fugitive Vijay Mallya ready to pay 9,000 crore rs to banks

New Delhi: Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya says he wants to pay back the Rs 9,000 crore he owes to a group of public sector banks.

"I respectfully say that I have made and continue to make every effort, in good faith to settle with the Public Sector Banks," Mallya has said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi released to the media on Tuesday.

"If politically motivated extraneous factors interfere, there is nothing that I can do," he added.Mallya has sought "patience and understanding of the severe predicaments that I am currently facing" and appealed to the prime minister for a "good sense of justice so that I am treated in a fair manner."

Mallya said, "I wrote letters to both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister on 15th April 2016 and am making these letters public to put things in the right perspective. No response was received from either of them."Mallya said that he had become the "poster boy" of bank default and a lightning rod of public anger.

"I have been accused by politicians and the media alike of having stolen and run away with Rs 9,000 crores that was loaned to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA). Some of the lending Banks have also labelled me a willful defaulter," said Mallya.Mallya is currently fighting against extradition to India from the UK.UNI