A Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) court here on Tuesday declared Vijay Mallya a “proclaimed offender”, in a development that would help the Enforcement Directorate (ED) mount pressure on the debt-trapped industrialist to join its investigations in the IDBI loan fraud-cum-money laundering case.
Having heard a petition filed by the ED on Friday, Special Judge PR Bhavke ruled: “The ED application is allowed and proclamation is issued against Vijay Mallya”.
The court declared Mallya a “proclaimed offender” under Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which makes it mandatory on the offender to appear before the ED within 30 days of the publication of proclamation.