Oxford Street chaos not terror; due to altercation between two men: Police

The incident at the busy Oxford Circus area in London on Saturday that sparked a "mass evacuation" and left 16 people injured was caused by an "altercation" between two men, police said, ruling out a terror attack.

The Oxford Circus area, one of the busiest shopping zones in the heart of the city, was placed under temporary lockdown after police received reports of shots being fired.

However, Scotland Yard later released CCTV images, saying an altercation between two men led to the chaos in the area.

"We are releasing CCTV images of two men we would like to speak with, following the incident at Oxford Circus earlier today," the Metropolitan Police said.

The British Transport Police (BTP) said the altercation took place inside the busy Oxford Circus underground train station, "triggering a mass evacuation".

"Officers believe an altercation erupted between two men on the platform. They would now like to speak to these two people in the CCTV images, who they believe may have information about the incident and the circumstances around the incident," a BTP statement said.

"They would also like to speak to anyone who was at the station or in the area at the time and saw or heard anything that would have caused mass evacuation," it added.

One person was transferred to a major trauma centre for leg injuries, while eight people were taken to central London hospitals for minor injuries. Another seven patients were treated at the scene.

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Vijay Mallya row: India asks UK to ensure early extradition

India on Thursday asked the United Kingdom to ensure early extradition of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya who is facing cases of bank loan default to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi raised the issue of early completion of the extradition process of Mallya, during his talks here with his UK counterpart Patsy Wilkinson, the second permanent secretary in the the British Home Office.

The issue of presence of certain Sikh militant elements in the UK, sharing of intelligence inputs on a real-time basis particularly with regard to the ISIS - both from ISIS-held territories, and modules being busted in the UK and Europe, were also discussed at the two-hour-long meeting, official sources said.

Counter-terror cooperation between India and Britain besides a host of other issues figured in the parleys.

Matters relating to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, strengthening of the intelligence-sharing mechanism and visa- related issues were also deliberated upon, the sources said.

61-year-old Mallya, who has been living in Britain since last year, was arrested by Scotland Yard last month on India's extradition request.

Within hours of his arrest, Mallya, who is accused of cheating and fraud, was released on bail by a London court.

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