A Mumbai metropolitan court on Saturday issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Vijay Mallya, in a case of cheque bouncing filed against him by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The 63rd metropolitan magistrate AA laulkar issued an NBW against Mallya, after the latter failed to appear before the court despite the court having issued final summons against him on May 7.
The Magistrate was hearing two applications filed by AAI against M/s Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and six others, including Mallya, in connection with the bouncing of two cheques collectively worth Rs 107 crore. The Mallya-headed now-defunct KFA had issued cheques of Rs 50 crore and Rs 57 crore to AAI some time in 2012. However, both the cheques had bounced.
Saturday’s was the third NBW issued against Mallya by an Indian Court in recent months. Earlier on March 13, a Hyderabad court had issued an NBW against Mallya in connection with alleged dishonour of a cheque of Rs 50 lakh to GMR Hyderabad International Airport ltd. Subsequently, a PMlA court in Mumbai issued an NBW against Mallya on April 18 in the IDBI loan fraud-cum-money laundering case.
Earlier this year, Mallya had sought and obtained permanent exemption from appearing in the cheque bouncing case filed in Mumbai court. However, after Mallya quietly left the country on March 2 amid reports about his airline having defaulted on repayment of over Rs 9,000 crore to the banks, the AAI moved the metropolitan court in suburban Andheri, challenging the permanent exemption granted to him by the court and sought issuance of an NBW against him.
Mallya has been evading summons by courts ever since he clandestinely left the country on March 2 for the United Kingdom, where he is currently based.
The first of the three NBWs issued against Mallya by a Hyderabad on March 13 did not produce desired results.
Following up on an NBW issued by it against Mallya in the IDBI loan fraud-cum-money laundering case earlier on April 18, the Mumbai-based PMlA declared the debt-trapped businessman a “proclaimed offender” on June 14.
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 Court within 30 days of the publication of proclamation.
On June 29, the PMlA court directed Mallya to appear before it on July 29 on the ground that he had “absconded” and was “concealing” himself to avoid arrest.
In a proclamation published through a newspaper advertisement, Special Judge P R Bhavake had directed Mallya to remain present before the PMlA court in the court room no. 16 at 11 am on July 29.
Meanwhile, given that Britain has declined to deport Mallya to India, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is planning to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual legal Assistance Treaty (MlAT) to extradite Mallya from Britain.
The ED is investigating the overall financial structure of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is also looking into any payment of kickbacks to secure 950 crore loan from the IDBI Bank.
The ED’s contention is that the latter had “siphoned off” Rs 430 crore from the loan taken by now defunct-Kingfisher Airline to purchase properties abroad.