Mallya’s assets worth Rs 6,630 crore attached by ED

MUMBAI: India’s financial crime investigating agency on Saturday took possession of assets worth more than Rs6,500 crore of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the second

MUMBAI: India’s financial crime investigating agency on Saturday took possession of assets worth more than Rs6,500 crore of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the second such action against the businessman once known as a “king of good times”.

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The assets attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) include a farmhouse near Mumbai, residential properties in Bangalore, shares and fixed deposits, an ED official said. The ED is probing a laundering case against Mallya, 60, who left India in March owing more than Rs9,000 crores to a group of banks. The ED has charged the Rajya Sabha member of diverting parts of loans he had taken for the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines to acquire properties abroad.

The ED has described the assets as “proceeds of crime”. “Our next step will be working towards filing a prosecution case against Mallya and get a trial against him in the special court. We are seeking evidence against him, asking foreign jurisdictions including UK and other places… not everything is in our hands,” an official said.